PEPPERELL
Schools import Singapore math styleDiagrams, models used to aid comprehensionThe students at the Varnum Brook Elementary School in Pepperell groaned in unison when teacher Karin Pillion announced they would do the next set of problems out loud -- without pencil, paper, or calculators.
"What is 6 times .04?" Pillion began. Multiplying decimal points in their heads is not something fourth-graders in the North Middlesex Regional School District were doing a decade ago. But despite the groans, the class on Monday morning moved confidently through a dozen problems, using a method known as Singapore Math. "I have seen kids go a long way with Singapore," said Pillion. "Even those that came to class at the beginning of the year with math phobias are up to speed." The district, which educates more than 4,600 students from Pepperell, Townsend, and Ashby, is finishing up its fourth year with Singapore Math as a part of the curriculum. Next fall, more than 100 classrooms in the North Middlesex district, including all students in grades 1 through 6, will learn mathematics with this method. And the district will lead the way for about 10 other Massachusetts towns to adopt this teaching method. Singapore Math caught on in 1999, when that country's students ranked first in an international study of mathematics and science education. (US students finished 19th out of 38.) Singapore had placed in the middle of the pack four years earlier, then implemented a new teaching system. After the 1999 results, educators worldwide began to examine the approach of this modern Southeast Asian island nation of 4.5 million people. Impressed by Singapore's results, the Massachusetts Department of Education began looking for a school district to implement that nation's techniques. North Middlesex was the first to accept. "North Middlesex is our visionary; they are the vanguard for implementation," said Barbara Libby, math and science administrator for the state Department of Education. "Their data, evidence, and classroom stories will tell us a lot and shape the future of Singapore Math in the Commonwealth." While math is an ancient discipline, the way it has been traditionally taught in the United States varies greatly from the way it is taught in Singapore. Relying on diagrams and models, as well as increasingly complex word problems to impart basic skills, Singapore Math teaches students a new way to look at the subject. The student is taught to find different ways to solve problems, and not by simply applying formulas taught by their teacher. In Singapore Math, there is no memorization of tables or rote exercises. At times, the students do not even use paper and pencil, but must do math mentally. The caveat, though, is that unlike in American math, where topics are revisited year after year, Singapore math students are exposed one time to a concept, and in following years, the curriculum builds on principles learned. Second-graders learn about shapes, third-graders work out the area and perimeter on a grid, and fourth-graders learn about area and perimeter with an unknown side. Continued... |
