Singapore Math
Why is it that this tiny country scores so high in mathematics? Is it their curriculum? Is it their superior approach to teaching math? Do Singapore students actually have superior ability?
Something they're doing is working and it sure would be nice to know just what is working. Other countries could certainly learn from and benefit from whatever it is that is working there, I would think.
Note: The Singapore Math Curriculum and the actual core math curriculum/program used in Singapore are NOT the same. As a result of Singapore's success, the Singapore Math Curriculum is getting a great deal of attention. However, even if it is their curriculum, every curriculum has its drawbacks. Curriculum tends to be implemented differently, sequenced differently and taught by teachers who have varying levels of expertise with math. It's also known that many districts have tried Singapore Math, only to drop it later. Why didn't it work for them? Singapore Math is a curriculum/framework that was developed based on some of the findings about how math is taught in Singapore. And, as I mention earlier, Singapore is doing something right. Here are some of the research articles about Singapore Math:
Singapore Math Research
Research in PDF
Be sure to post your experiences and/or opinions about Singapore Math, it's a popular topic.
Comments
There are many other countries in Asia doing very well in math but never got so much attention in the North America and I can think of one rason is language barrier. Singapore uses English so this small country got the most attention in Canada or the USA, but just take a look at other countries and areas: Chine, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong they all have high achievers in math competitions. Of course, high math competition scorers achievers do not mean or eaual to children’s math ability in general but there are many other reports showing these countries have higher math sores in general too.
Being in math teaching and tutoring for over 15 years in Canada and Asia, I have seen all sorts of background of parents, I can see one influential factor on math results is culture. You can study all kinds of math curriculum but if the culture factor does not go along with math curriculum then the results will be different.
The parents in North America just think differently from other countries (paricularily in Asia)regardlng the amount of hime work and how much time students shall spend on study.
The view from North America’s parents on if children shall contiue to study in summer vacation or weekends (even it means the result will improve children’s badly needed ability.) will be different from those parents in Asia.
So when implementing a “foreign” math method or math curriculum, we must consider the culture difference and local parents’ and local teachers’ attitudes towads study in general. It is because children’s attitude is very much influenced by their parents or teachers.
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