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What Do We Do with the Remainder?

Fourth Graders Discuss Division

Introduction

This video shows Dee Watson leading a discussion about a division word problem
with a class of fourth-grade students in October. The students work through one
strategy for solving the problem and, through their discussion of the strategy, fig-
ure out what to do about the remainder in the problem.
The students in the video discuss the following problem from the
Investigations in Number, Data, and Space curriculum: There are 36 people who are
taking a trip in some small vans. Each van holds 8 people. How many vans will
they need? (Economopoulos et al. 2004). To solve this problem, students are
asked to figure what is happening in the problem, decide on a strategy to solve it,
and then decide what they need to do with the leftover people. Therefore,
although the answer to the problem 36 8 is 4 with a remainder of 4 or 4 , the
answer to this word problem is 5 because an extra bus is needed for the 4 leftover
people.
As you watch the video consider the following questions. You might want to
take notes on what you notice.

• How does the teacher use this discussion to help students build an under-
  standing of division?


• How does she structure this discussion?


• What questions does she ask?


• What statements does she make?

Classroom discussions can be an important part of supporting students who struggle
with mathematics. Classroom discussions are an opportunity for students to hear
their classmates’ ideas and strategies. Students might hear something that helps them
with an idea they are struggling with or hear a strategy that might work for them.
Discussions are an opportunity for students to practice communicating their ideas
and to think through their own ideas, strategies, or even confusions. They are also
an opportunity for teachers to focus on specific ideas or strategies they think are

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