Hip Hop Multiplication Music Video

"Zero & Identity Properties" may not sound like a good candidate for the number one slot on the Billboard hit singles chart, but it's actually a pretty good tune. Ditto for the half dozen other songs on this rap music video compilation designed to teach kids strategies for learning the multiplication tables. Live-action dancing, colorful graphics, and a myriad of eye-catching special effects are used to drive home concepts such as square numbers and a shortcut for multiplying by nine. Of course, in the song "Hard Facts," viewers are reminded that many of the multiples in the multiplication tables don't lend themselves to easy rules and must be simply learned by rote. Still, there's no question that this lively and hummable music video will help, and by offering strategies designed to teach relationships between multiples (rather than merely serving as a video flash card set) the Hip Hop Multiplication Video takes some of the rote out of learning the multiplication tables. Recommended. (Available from: American Sound & Video Corporation, 7290 Miller Drive, Warren, MI 48092-1677; (313) 795-1900; FAX (313) 795-1904.)