Experiencing Singapore Math is an one-day executive program to give participants an overview of Singapore Math. It is based on MAP101 Fundamentals of Singapore Math that teachers do as part of their professional development in teaching Singapore Math. More than fifty Missouri educators participated in this one-day institute.
1. St LouisMissouri
Experiencing Singapore Math
an institute for administrators
Yeap Ban Har
Marshall Cavendish Institute
Singapore
yeapbanhar@gmail.com
Slides are available at
www.banhar.blogspot.com
3. Experiencing
Singapore Math
Land
270 sq miles
700 sq km
introduction People
5.3 million
GDP per capita
1965 USD500
2011 USD50 000
Junyuan Secondary School, Singapore in current USD
5. General Overview of Singapore and its
Education System
Students
500 000
Teachers
30 000
Principals & Vice-Principals
900
Schools
173 Primary Schools (Primary 1 – 6)
155 Secondary Schools (Secondary 1 – 4)
13 Junior Colleges (JC 1 – 2) Canossa Convent Primary School, Singapore
15 Mixed-Level Schools
The data refers to 1-12 school system. Pre-school is not part of the formal education
system. The data excludes post-secondary education system which includes institutes
of technical education, polytechnics and universities.
6. High achievement was not a given. In 1960,
among 30 615 candidates who sat for the
first Primary School Leaving Examination,
45% of the candidates passed.
Today, about the
same proportion
achieve the
highest grade in
each of the four
subjects tested.
Keon Ming Public School, Singapore
7. Experiencing
Singapore Math
All major international tests (literacy, science and mathematics) between 1964
and 2003 were placed on a common scale. Selected countries shown in the table.
Score 1960-1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
500 Japan Japan Japan Japan
Korea Korea Korea
Hong Kong Singapore Hong Kong
Hong Kong Singapore
400 Thailand Singapore Malaysia Malaysia
Thailand Thailand Thailand
The Philippines
300 Indonesia Indonesia
The Philippines The Philippines
Reference: E. Hanusek, D. Jamison, E. Jamison & L. Woessmann (2008)
8.
9. Experiencing
Singapore Math
Mathematics is “an excellent
vehicle for the development and
improvement of a person’s
intellectual competence”.
1982 Ministry of Education Singapore 2006
Introduction of Singapore mathematics
textbooks as they are known today. 2001
Introduction of textbooks published by
1992 private publishers and approved by
Introduction of Problem- Ministry of Education.
Solving Curriculum 2007
New editions of textbooks are
1997 published with the introduction of the
Thinking Schools revised curriculum.
Learning Nation
2013
New editions of textbooks are
published with the revision of the
curriculum.
Page 1
11. Experiencing
Singapore Math
Achievement
Attitude
Singapore 71 41
Hong Kong 67 40
Taiwan 50 24
Grade 4
Japan 62 23
Kazakhstan 89 19
England 62 16
Russia 80 16
International 72 5
12. Experiencing
Singapore Math
Achievement
Attitude
Taiwan 37 45
S Korea 33 40
Singapore 60 40
Grade 8
Hong Kong 47 31
Japan 30 26
Hungary 30 10
England 40 8
International 54 2
13.
14. Experiencing
Singapore Math
Mean
Shanghai 600
Singapore 562
Hong Kong 555
15 year-olds
S Korea 546
Taiwan 543
Finland 541
Liechtenstein 536
International 496
26. 3
A number is of a second number.
Experiencing
Singapore Math
5
The sum of the two numbers is 120.
King Solomon Academy, London UK
27. Box B contains twice as many
books as Box A. Box C
contains 20 more books than
Box A. Together, the three
boxes contains 116 books.
Edgewood Elementary School, New York
Singapore Math
Experiencing
28. In the learning of basic concepts such as
those in fractions, the emphasis is on
visualization, generalization and number
sense. There is also an emphasis on 21st
Century Competencies such as creativity,
critical thinking, communication, metacognition
and so on.
29. Experiencing
Singapore Math
Relational
Understanding
R Skemp
what & how Concrete
Introduction
J Bruner
Junyuan Secondary School, Singapore
Page 08
Page 13
42. Long division and the learning of
multiplication facts emphasis that it is not
necessary to learn a procedural blindly and
it is not necessary to do rote memorization in
order to remember.
59. Experiencing
Singapore Math
Da Qiao Primary School, Singapore
60. Experiencing
Singapore Math
Primary Mathematics (Third Edition)
See Ho, S. Y. & Yeap, B. H. (2011). Development of Visualization Skills in Singapore Primary
School Mathematics Textbooks. Paper presented at PME-35 Angkara, Turkey.
See also Yeap, B. H. (2011). The Emphasis of Primary-Level Textbooks in Singapore on
Higher-Order Thinking Skills. Paper presented at International Conference on School
Mathematics Textbooks Shanghai, China.
61. Experiencing
Singapore Math
Visuals are used to teach
concepts – distributive
property of multiplication
– without using formal
terms.
Primary Mathematics (Third Edition)