> They don't need this information when learning that 3 groups of 5 fruit are 15 fruits.
They also don't need the "information" that multiplication is repeated addition, period, full stop. But that's what others in this discussion appear to be trying to argue for.
I'm really not sure how you could arrive at an understanding of multiplication without first going through the exercise of adding up X groups of Y to yield X * Y. We don't need to declare to children that the precise definition of multiplication is repeated addition. If that's what you're arguing, we agree. If it's that 3*5 shouldn't be explained as 5+5+5, I'm not sure how kids would be expected to learn the subject. We can't transactionally insert comprehensive math knowledge, so it's got to be incomplete along the way.
> I'm really not sure how you could arrive at an understanding of multiplication without first going through the exercise of adding up X groups of Y to yield X Y.*
Arriving at an understanding of one particular special case of multiplication might indeed be a necessary step towards arriving at an understanding of multiplication in general, but that doesn't mean the two are the same.
They also don't need the "information" that multiplication is repeated addition, period, full stop. But that's what others in this discussion appear to be trying to argue for.