Final answer:
The question involves a mathematics activity where middle school students create candy cane arrays to understand multiplication and area concepts. Students could create a 3x4, 2x6, or 1x12 array with 12 candy canes, showing different multiplication facts that all result in the product of 12.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question refers to an activity where students are expected to create candy cane arrays. An array is a mathematical term that represents a systematic arrangement of objects, often in rows and columns. In this context, students could be using candy canes or similar objects to create arrays. The goal of this exercise might be to help students understand concepts of multiplication, area, or combinatorics. In mathematics, especially at the middle school level, an array is a visual tool used to teach students to understand these concepts.
For example, if a student were to create three different arrangements of an array with 12 candy canes, they could arrange them in the following ways:
- A 3x4 array: This means 3 rows with 4 candy canes in each row.
- A 2x6 array: This means 2 rows with 6 candy canes in each row.
- A 1x12 array: This means a single row with 12 candy canes.
Each arrangement represents a different multiplication fact (3x4, 2x6, 1x12) all equaling 12, demonstrating the concept of the commutative property of multiplication. This hands-on activity is a great way for students to visualize multiplication facts and understand the area of a rectangle in a concrete way. It can also introduce more complex topics such as factors and prime numbers by examining the number of different arrays that can be created for a given number of candy canes.