Singapore’s math curriculum gained international interest when its students outperformed children in other countries to score the highest in math and science in a 2003 study. In the same study, Asian students generally did very well in the mathematics section, with Singapore, Korea, Japan and Hong Kong occupying the top positions. For age group between 9 to 14, Singapore was top in mathematics.
Singapore Math Education
The term “Singapore Math” evolved in United States back in 2000 when mathematicians, media sources, and education pioneers referred to the Singaporean Primary Mathematics textbooks as “Singapore Math”. Today, “Singapore Math” refers to the approach to mathematics instruction and a collection of math teaching strategies common in Singaporean classrooms. Singapore Math emphasizes the development of strong number sense, excellent mental-math skills, and a deep understanding of place value. It includes a strong emphasis on model drawing, a visual approach to solving word problems that helps students organize information and solve problems in a step-by-step manner.
Learning Singapore Math
To learn Singapore math, one has to first train his memory for facts and numbers. Basic knowledge becomes consolidated in long-term memory and math facts and procedures gradually become automatic. This automaticity frees up the processing load on the brain to allow it to dedicate more mental energy to higher-order tasks of reasoning and complex problem solving.
Singapore math emphasizes on problem solving which is more than knowing math facts and mastering procedural skills. More fundamentally it requires numerical reasoning, concept formation and an intuitive sense towards math problem solving.
Math Tutoring
Many parents do not really understand how to help their children excel in Math and so they rely on tutoring. Assessment books are bestsellers in bookshop and parents would expect tutors to help their children do as many assessment books as possible, believing that this is the way to polish their mathematical skills.