When math-smart yes-members of Parliament and cabinet ministers in Singapore—who are versed with all the big numbers of their million-dollar salaries and bonuses and the nation’s trillion-dollar economy—appear quasi-clueless on how to deal with the alphas, betas, and deltas, which has resulted in a daily unhealthy number of corona infections in recent weeks—could these half-street-smart politicians outwit these Greek viruses and variants?
Although the government has provided a safe haven for thousands of tax fugitives from both rich and rogue nations, and created a materialistic milieu that motivates both locals and aliens to deify the money god, however, Singapore math ministers’ social living-with-Covid experiment looks like they’re indulging in some trial-and-error political calculus with the lives and livelihoods of the people.
by Covido February 5, 2022
The mathematical equivalent of having brown rice rather than white biryani rice. An unsexy, wholesome math curriculum that is healthy to the mind, but brain-unfriendly for most students, who need to force themselves to mastering the concepts confidently.
Like taking cod liver oil, which is good for the body immune system, Singapore math may look unappetizing, but after spending a few hundred hours practicing thousands of nonroutine, impractical or sterile questions, your brain can only get mathematically stronger and healthier.
by MathPlus May 20, 2018
A form of “mathematical acupuncture” that could relieve non-Singapore teachers and students of math anxiety, if they experiment with problem-solving heuristics like the bar model method and stack model method, while experiencing the pain of brain-unfriendly questions.
Although a number of countries that embraced Singapore math have seen significant improvement in their students’ math scores, however, without parental and societal pressures for a nation to become numerate, at best cosmetic changes would result even with the best math curriculum in place.
by MathPlus July 14, 2018
When fertile or fitting real-life or contextual questions and math tidbits or humor in a math textbook, submitted to Singapore’s Ministry of Education (MOE) for approval, are often rejected for politically incorrect reasons, or because the items could potentially be perceived to be linked to politics, race, religion, or sex.
Items like “Eleventh Commandment: Thou shalt not divide by zero!” and phrases like “beautiful curves,” “immoral algebra,” and “juicy little theorem” are banned without being given valid reasons—aren’t these rejections part of the sanitization of Singapore math to only publish sterilized or sterile contents to satisfy the mathematical wants of a humorously or prudishly challenged audience or readership?
by MathPlus September 5, 2021
When math educators fly to the “fine” city of Singapore to attend a pep talk on the bar model method, and to visit a local school and watch a teacher conduct a problem-solving math lesson, before spending the rest of their educational trip on shopping and sightseeing.
When Singapore Math tourism visitors flew back home, they’d excitedly tell their principals or superintendents to embrace the Singapore Math model, by substituting their present dear mile-wide-inch-deep textbooks with wallet-friendly Singapore math titles, often much to the disapproval of their colleagues, who want to “Make US Math Great Again.”
by MathPlus January 4, 2021
Also known as “Singapore Math in the Metaverse.” When thanks to Web 3.0 technology, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and non-fungible tokens (NFTs)—backed by blockchain technology to ensure authenticity and ownership—become common currency or key connecting points to the metaverse among math educators and geeky investors.
While Singapore Math 3.0 is still in its diapers, or is still wet so we can’t see its true colors, mathepreneurs can’t afford to be spectators that they miss out on the opportunities and experiences and new revenue streams offered by the new digital Wild West economy.
by Fasters November 8, 2022
When foreign countries discreetly incorporate the best of the Singapore math curriculum, such as the bar or stack model method, learning experiences, and big ideas, into their own local curriculum, by adopting it as their stepchild, where cross-fertilization of local and foreign ideas occasionally results in an aha! by-product.
Thanks to the bastardization of Singapore math, the US Common Core Math had given birth to a few beautiful methodological and pedagogical offsprings in math education, much to the delight of local math educators who follow closely how their foreign counterparts are creatively adopting some of the problem-solving visualization strategies.
by Fasters July 19, 2022