Singapore’s Math Results, How Do They Do It?
Since the creation of “New Math” in the 1950s and delivery via the SMSG (School Mathematics Study Group) textbooks, the USA’s progressive math education establishments have believed that conceptual understanding is the holy grail of math instruction. Supposedly, once a child has conceptual understanding, math skills will be easier to acquire. Yet after 60 years of placing the cart before the horse, this plan is still not working well, but will anyone notice? The fact is that for most children the acquisition of math skills comes effectively via traditional instruction and practice with some memorization involved. Conceptual understanding comes later.
The Common Core thinkers have it backwards as well. Many school districts downplay the Content Standards and push the eight Standards for Mathematical Practice. This method has yet to demonstrate that it is an effective and efficient way to learn mathematics.
The eight Standards for Mathematical Practice are:
(1) Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them
(2) Reason abstractly and quantitatively
(3) Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others
(4) Model with mathematics
(5) Use appropriate tools strategically
(6) Attend to precision
(7) Look for and make use of structure
(8) Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning
Notes and links: Singapore Math.
