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
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
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
When white Christian nationalists or ultra-MAGA patriots subscribe to the radical pedagogy that adopting (or adapting part of) the Singapore math curriculum would only adulterate theirs, because exposing local students to alien problem-solving strategies and heuristics under the guise of multicultural math or ethnomathematics would only give undue credit to foreign curriculum math specialists and publishers.
A number of white or “woke” curriculum censors are covertly working hand in hand with American textbook publishers to push for the wokenization of Singapore math, with both parties having a vested interest to ensure that dear inch-deep-mile-wide K–12 math textbooks rather than value-for-money foreign math titles inundate as many states and local schools as possible.
by Fasters May 10, 2023
When digital pirates from notorious copyright-violating countries like India, Pakistan, and Nigeria are blatantly sharing Singapore math e-books, students’ and teachers’ resources, and textbook solutions; or are selling them at a fraction of their actual prices.
To tens of thousands of students and teachers in the developing world, the Napsterization of Singapore math looks more like the democratization rather than the illegal dissemination of Singapore math materials to help raise their quantitative literacy at zero costs or for the price of a few megabytes.
by MathPlus November 25, 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