Sunday, June 15, 2008

About SingaporeMath

SingaporeMath has gained an international reputation for helping average students attain high achievement levels and enjoy mathematics. Some prominent features of SingaporeMath includes the emphasis on complex problem solving and concept development through the concrete-pictorial-abstract approach. A prominent feature of SingaporeMath is simple explanations for difficult concepts.

SingaporeMath's emphasis on the development of students' intellectual competencies is consistent with the importance placed on nurturing knowledge workers and people who can participate fully in an increasingly technological world. Textbooks based on SingaporeMath have been adopted in many countries around the world. As of this year, there is even a Standards Edition of a K-5 textbook series based on SingaporeMath.

TIMSS has consistently found that Singapore students perform well in mathematics. A 2005 study by American institute for research (AIR) found that SingaporeMath Grade 6 problems are "more challenging than the released items on the U.S. Grade 8 National Assessment of Education Progress (p.xiii)". It was also found that SingaporeMath "are rich with problem-based development (p.xii)" instead of focusing on the mechanics of mathematics and the application of definitions and formulae to routine problems. A 2007 article in Educational Leadership concluded that "using the bar model approach, Singapore textbooks enable students to solve difficult math problems - and learn how to think symbolically ".

This emphasis on visual methods in SingaporeMath could be a contributing factor to why Singapore students are able to sustain their achievement level from Grade 4 to Grade 8.

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