I shared some worksheets that I have that highlight the pattern involved, as every problem on the sheet has to do with multiplying or dividing by multiples of ten. I then ask the students to tell me what happened to the decimal? It moved to the right because you were multiplying; to the left because you were dividing...
Some students catch on to this. They learn well when presented with number patterns. Others still look confused. For some it's the medium: the paper's too busy, so fold it in half. For one boy I worked with recently, this was still too difficult for him to see. So I wrote each digit on a separate piece of paper and I took out a counter to be used as the decimal. Then I had him physically move the counter to show me what his answer looked like.
He got it! He now saw what I meant by the decimal point moving.
Others still might look confused. I had one student represent the decimal. The students had to tell him/her how to move and how far to move. (Because decimals can't think for themselves.) This worked very well for some of the students. I combine this with my own 'decimal dance': where every time I mention the decimal moving to the right, I move to the right that number of spaces. And every time I mention the decimal moving to the left, I move to the left that number of spaces. This usually gets some weird looks and laughter from the students and helps them to remember what to do and why.
How do you help your students to multiply/ divide decimals? Please send me your ideas as what I'm doing is surely not going to reach every one and there will be a day soon when I need to do something new. Together we can teach the world: one child at a time. --Lauren
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