1. Experiencing Singapore Maths
Merton, London October 2012
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)
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
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
23. Experiencing
Singapore Math
Experiencing Singapore Math
Initial Concrete Experiences & Building Conceptual Understanding
Yeap Ban Har
Marshall Cavendish Institute
Singapore
yeapbanhar@gmail.com
Slides are available at
www.banhar.blogspot.com
24. Experiencing
Singapore Math
Relational
Understanding
R Skemp
what & how Concrete
Introduction
J Bruner
Junyuan Secondary School, Singapore
Page 08
Page 13
31. Experiencing
Singapore Math
Using bar model to introduce solving
algebraic equations
Solve 7 – 3y = 1 .
7
3y 1
34. Experiencing
Singapore Math
Experiencing Singapore Math
Emphasis on Number Sense & Visualization
Yeap Ban Har
Marshall Cavendish Institute
Singapore
yeapbanhar@gmail.com
Slides are available at
www.banhar.blogspot.com
58. Experiencing
Singapore Math
Da Qiao Primary School, Singapore
59. 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.
60. Experiencing
Singapore Math
Visuals are used to teach
concepts – distributive
property of multiplication
– without using formal
terms.
Primary Mathematics (Third Edition)