Area Models - Research and Practice Guide

Introduction

Area models can be used to represent many forms of two-factor multiplication, from elementary students' initial understandings of multiplication through high school students' work with factoring and dividing polynomials. In this video, originally prepared for the 2021 NCTM Virtual Annual Meeting, area models are shown supporting students' understanding through an instructional approach called progressive formalization, where real-world contexts describing area are abstracted to area models as a way of supporting understanding of formal mathematics.