Improving Math InstructionThe Singapore Experience
Dr. Yeap Ban HarMarshall Cavendish InstituteSingapore
Slides are available at www.facebook.com/MCISingapore
Da Qiao Primary School, Singapore
Hanusek, Jamison, Jamison & Woessmann (2008)
Score 1960-1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
500 Japan Hong KongJapanKorea
Hong KongJapanKorea
Singapore
Hong KongJapanKorea
Singapore400 Thailand The Philippines
SingaporeThailand
MalaysiaThailand
MalaysiaThailand
300 IndonesiaThe Philippines
IndonesiaThe Philippines
Reference: E. Hanusek, D. Jamison, E. Jamison & L. Woessmann (2008)
All major international tests (literacy, science and mathematics) between 1964 and 2003 were placed on a common scale. Selected countries shown in the table.
National Curriculum Revised once every six years Revised Curriculum in 2013
Learning Experiences are explicit Mathematical Modeling is emphasized
Ministry of Education, Singapore (1991, 2000, 2006, 2012)
Mathematics is “an excellent vehicle for the development
and improvement of a person’s intellectual competence”.
Ministry of Education, Singapore (2006)
thinkingschoolslearningnat
ion
Improving Curriculum Using Existing Research Using Data
Greenridge Primary School, Singapore
Bruner’s Research CPA Approach Spiral Approach
Public School in Chile
Concrete Pictorial Abstract
15 3 = 5
enactive
iconic
symbolic
A curriculum as it develops should revisit these basic ideas repeatedly, building upon them until the student has grasped the full formal apparatus that goes with them.
Bruner 1960
A curriculum as it develops should revisit these basic ideas repeatedly, building upon them until the student has grasped the full formal apparatus that goes with them.
Bruner 1960
Primary 2
Primary 3
Primary 4
Primary 5
Dienes’s Research Variability
Skemp’s Research Relational Understanding Instrumental Understanding Conventional Understanding
Improving Instruction Strategy 1 Curriculum Document
Improving Instruction Strategy 2 Textbooks
Improving Instruction Strategy 3 Leadership
Improving Instruction Strategy 4 Professional Learning
MCI Pedagogy for Professional Learning As a Learner As an Observer As a Reflective Teacher
Singapore
MCI Pedagogy for Professional Learning As a Learner As an Observer As a Reflective
Teacher
MCI Pedagogy for Professional Learning As a Learner As an Observer As a Reflective
TeacherSouth Korea
Hawaii, USA
MCI Pedagogy for Professional Learning As a Learner As an Observer As a Reflective
Teacher
Singapore
MCI Pedagogy for Professional Learning As a Learner As an Observer As a Reflective
Teacher
New York, USA
Singapore
Japan
The Netherlands
MCI Pedagogy for Professional Learning As a Learner As an Observer As a Reflective
Teacher
Singapore
Score 1960-1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
500 Japan Hong KongJapanKorea
Hong KongJapanKorea
Singapore
Hong KongJapanKorea
Singapore400 Thailand The Philippines
SingaporeThailand
MalaysiaThailand
MalaysiaThailand
300 IndonesiaThe Philippines
IndonesiaThe Philippines
Reference: E. Hanusek, D. Jamison, E. Jamison & L. Woessmann (2008)
All major international tests (literacy, science and mathematics) between 1964 and 2003 were placed on a common scale. Selected countries shown in the table.
mathematics
gra
de e
ight
math
em
ati
cs
Singapore
South Korea
Taiwan
Hong Kong
Japan
48
47
49
34
27
32
8
14
19
9
23
56
53
37
53
611
613
609
586
570
advance
d
like m
ath
dis
like
math
avera
ge
International 3 26 31500
gra
de e
ight
math
em
ati
cs
Singapore
Malaysia
Thailand
Indonesia
International
48
2
2
0
3
78
12
8
2
17
92
36
26
15
46
99
65
55
43
75
611
440
427
386
500
advance
d
hig
h
inte
rmedia
te low
avera
ge
Improving Math InstructionThe Singapore Experience
Dr. Yeap Ban HarMarshall Cavendish InstituteSingapore
Slides are available at www.facebook.com/MCISingapore
Da Qiao Primary School, Singapore