Ask ‘WHY’

Today, I noticed a very interesting picture in a grade 4 student’s notebook. And, the description of the picture was even more interesting : A dinosaur head and a dinosaur egg in a multiple digit multiplication problem.

Me – Why do you put a zero in the second row of multiplication?
Student – This is dinosaur egg. You see there is a dinosaur head as well 🙂

Me : Where did this dinosaur egg come from?
Student : From no where. Dinosaur was very happy, so it gave us one egg.

Me: Why did it give only one egg? Can we have more dinosaur’s eggs here?
Student : No, we only make one dinosaur egg here.

Me: I like the creativity (dinosaur head & dinosaur egg) but I would be happier if you ask me more ‘Why’ questions: Why only one egg? Why not more eggs?
Student: (Silence)

Me: Can you go through https://maths2art.com.sg/2017/02/12/multiplication-trivia/
Student: (After 5 minute) Now I understand. If we multiply by a 3 digit number, then there will be 2 dinosaur eggs.

Me: Yes, you got it right.
Student : Yippee!

It is very important to motivate children to ask questions.

The moral of this short story is – Ask ‘Why’.