Strategies for Teaching Area: A Guide for Teachers

Target Skill and Context

According to the Common Sore State Standards for Mathematics, students in the third
grade are expected to understand concepts of area and relate area to multiplication and addition
(p. 22). Module four of the New York State Common Core Mathematics Curriculum describes
the concept of area as the amount of two-dimensional surface that is contained within a plane
figure (p. ii). Prior to beginning a unit on area, third graders have studied multiplication facts
through various strategies and many of the students have begun to memorize their times tables;
students have also begun to work through two-step problems where they must combine different
mathematical operations to solve a problem. By building on the information that the students
have already learned in the unit on multiplication and in the unit on two-step problems, third
graders will be able to understand area as a mathematical concept.
Research on Best Practice
Although students should have a basic understanding of multiplication concepts,
throwing students right into the area formula may not be the most effective way to have the
students understand the concept of area. Without a solid understanding of area, students will
likely continue to have difficulty with understanding area later on in their academic careers (Van
de Walle, Karp, & Bay-Williams, 2013, p. 384). David and Tomazs research on elementary
mathematics describes how the use of visuals can benefit all students because they provide an
explanation for concepts that could otherwise be confusing and complicated (2012, p. 413-414).
The study of area is the perfect topic to utilize visuals because it will also allow students to
concretely connect the topic to something in their life. A common example associated with area

is the space within a garden plot this is

something that students will have some
association with and be able to remember
if they ever have trouble with the topic of
area.
Visuals need not be limited to
images with numbers. Before adding in
numerals to a visual, it can be useful to
provide students with shapes that they can Figure 1. An example of the worksheet provided in the
Engage NY Grade 3 mathematics curriculum.

use manipulatives to fill in outlines of

shapes (Engage NY, 2013, p. 12-18); one of the lessons suggested by the Engage NY curriculum
offers worksheets that has outlines of various shapes to allow students to use manipulatives of
various shapes (each shape is the same size) to help students understand that there is room that
can be filled inside a flat shape (2013, p. 15-16). The more students are able to use
manipulatives in a variety of ways, the more they can understand how different objects may be
filled in different ways. In addition, as students learn that certain manipulatives can fill different
shapes, it may be worthwhile asking them what other manipulative shapes would fill the same
space or even if there are ways to use multiple shapes to determine the area.
After students gain comfort using the manipulatives to demonstrate their understanding
of area, both Engage NY (2013, p. 19) and the Elementary and Middle School Mathematics
textbook suggest to use grids of squares (Van de Walle, et al., 2013, p. 386-387). The use of
square units helps to familiarize third graders with the measurement of the sides of an object,
which will foster their connection between multiplication, addition, and area. In previous

mathematics units, the students have used arrays to solve multiplication and addition problems to
solve problems and ultimately they were skip-counting to determine the total (Barmby, Higgins,
& Suggate, 2009, p. 224). Familiarity with square units is essential for students to assure that
they successfully understand that area can be added or taken away from an ordinary shape by
changing the original objects shape. When the shape has changed, the students must combine
their understanding of the area of two smaller images to show that they can successfully find the
area of objects with atypical shapes (Van de Walle, et al., 2013, p. 388). Students can use either
addition or subtraction to find the area of atypical areas after they have found the area for either
two individual shapes or for one larger shape.
Reflection
From the research that I looked at, it seems that mathematics as a whole should be
approached in steps. Even if my students have the knowledge of multiplication, I do not want to
just throw them into area by using the length x width formula; instead, I would like them to
gain a clear understanding of what area is and see them understand that there is space enclosed
by a figure.
After I see that my students are comfortable with using manipulatives to identify the
amount of space in a shape, I will move them towards using square units within an object. The
square units seem to help transition students from just shapes to the length and width of the
rectangle, which I can also begin to discuss units with the students. In addition, the square unit
models are closely related to the arrays that are taught earlier in these students education;
although the students may have used dots in their arrays instead of squares, the concept is very
similar to a problem-solving strategy they have familiarity with.

As I see students mastering the square units in the shape meaning the same thing as
length and width, I believe that it is safe to begin using addition and subtraction to show that a
shape with an unusual border still has an area and there are steps to finding the area it
encompasses. Typically, the students will have some context in working with multistep
problems, so this portion of the area unit connects directly to a previous unit of mathematics so
that students will not lose familiarity with what they have learned in the past. The study of area
seems to help the students recall many of the strategies that they learned in third grade (and
earlier) in order to help them understand area as wholly as possible without forgetting their
previous learning.

References
Barmby, P., Harries, T., Higgins, S., & Suggate, J. (2009). The array representation and primary
children's understanding and reasoning in multiplication. Educational Studies In
Mathematics, 70(3), 217-241.
Bedford, J. (2013, August 6). Best strategy for teaching elementary math. Retrieved from
http://www.dreambox.com/blog/best-strategies-for-teaching-elementary-math-2
David, M., & Tomaz, V. (2012). The role of visual representations for structuring classroom
mathematical activity. Educational Studies In Mathematics, 80(3), 413-431.
Engage NY. Engage NY, (2013). Grade 3 mathematics module 4. Retrieved from website:
http://www.engageny.org/resource/grade-3-mathematics-module-4
National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School
Officers. (2010). Common core state standards for mathematics. Retrieved from
National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School
Officers, Washington D.C. website: http://www.corestandards.org/Math
Van De Walle, J., Karp, K., & Bay-Williams, J. (2013).Elementary and middle school
mathematics teaching developmentally. (8th ed., pp. 384-391). Boston: Pearson
Education.