Long Division is the standard method of dividing. It is probably how you were taught to divide. If you are good at it, you may think it is easy, but if you “listen” to the lesson below as it sounds to an elementary school student trying to learn it, you may incur some empathy for the struggles many students have with it. (If ever you think something is easy in math, always add the words “to me.” Nothing about math is obvious to beginners.)

In MOVE IT Math™, long division is taught as enrichment—as another way to divide—and for historical interest as probably the way most of today’s adults divide (if they remember how). It is allotted no more than 1-2 days and is introduced in a manner to dispel stress: “If you get it, great! If you don’t, no big deal. Not getting it will not inhibit your progress in math.”

Long division should not inhibit students’ growth in math. It should not be used as a sieve to sort students out and make some of them think they are math dumb. To argue that they will need to know it for dividing polynomials when they take algebra is putting the cart miles (years) ahead of the horse. When students are older and can handle pain better, they can learn it then. Besides, in spite of the scary look of a problem like (12X²+7X–10) ÷ (3X–2), it is easier to work and makes more sense in algebra than the gazinta (goes into) arithmetic below. (The answer to the algebra problem is 4X + 5.)