Lesson 18

The purpose of this lesson is to introduce students to ways to record partial quotients when dividing multi-digit numbers.

Previously, students have found quotients by decomposing a dividend and finding the quotient for each decomposed part until all of the dividend is divided. They have also reasoned in terms of multiplication—adding partial products until they reach the value of the dividend—and in terms of place value. They have also used area diagrams and base-ten diagrams—among other representations—to support their reasoning.

In this lesson, students use partial quotients and a couple of ways to record them systematically—by writing a series of equations, and by using an algorithm that uses partial quotients.

Today’s lesson encouraged small-group collaboration. How did students interact with each other’s ideas today in the work? Who was heard in their group? Who was not heard? How can you ensure in future small-group collaborations that all student’s voices are heard?