Factorization

http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivityDetail.aspx?ID=64

The next thing in my search for Good Stuff Online For Seeing Math... here are the comments I sent to them. (I sent comments to Wolfram (who make Mathematica) about their "visualizations" designed for "elementary" of "simple multiplication" (which were anything but simple) as well and got an email offer to demonstrate it... my response that it wasn't suitable for our students as it stands but that I could give 'em stuff that was if they could render it for me got no response... let 'em cater to the savants, but I'd like to debunk any thoughts they may have that their stuff would reach the minds of the teeming masses.

Ah, but the "factorization" lessons... alas, I suspect the same mindset exists there...

I was thinking that having the option of having the blocks numbered (so that they more clearly added up to the number being "factorized") might help.
I found it a little frustrating that this provides a "visual reference" - but you have to already know the factors! You can't actually *figure them out* visually; no, if you don't already know the stuff you basically guess the times tables and then throw the mouse around and hope you get the right shape.
It would be really nice to have an honestly constructive lesson, wherein a student could be presented with a number (ex. 25) and then could propose a factor (ex. 4) and then click on progressive multiples of 4 on the graph (as opposed to getting to type the symbols which may or may not have meaning) ... or perhaps backing up to "representational" and having pictures of concrete things. Then the student could actually **discover** whether or not 25 could be organized into groups of 4. As the exercise stands now, there's absolutely no reason to assume the student is regarding factors as ways of grouping sets of things or areas in space.