1. Improving Math
Instruction
The Singapore Experience
Dr. Yeap Ban Har
Marshall Cavendish Institute
Singapore
Da Qiao Primary School, Singapore
banhar@sg.marshallcavendish.com
Slides are available at www.facebook.com/MCISingapore

2. Hanusek, Jamison, Jamison & Woessmann (2008)

4. All major international tests (literacy, science and mathematics) between
1964 and 2003 were placed on a common scale. Selected countries
shown in the table.
Score 1960-1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
500 Japan Hong Kong Hong Kong Hong Kong
Japan Japan Japan
Korea Korea Korea
Singapore Singapore
400 Thailand The Philippines Malaysia Malaysia
Singapore Thailand Thailand
Thailand
300 Indonesia Indonesia
The Philippines The Philippines
Reference: E. Hanusek, D. Jamison, E. Jamison & L. Woessmann (2008)

5. National Curriculum
 Revised once every six years
 Revised Curriculum in 2013
 Learning Experiences are explicit
 Mathematical Modeling is emphasized

6. Ministry of Education, Singapore (1991, 2000, 2006, 2012)

7. thinkingscho
ols learningnatio
n
Mathematics is “an excellent vehicle
for the development and
improvement of a person’s
intellectual competence”.
Ministry of Education, Singapore (2006)

9. Improving Curriculum
Greenridge Primary School, Singapore
 Using Existing Research
 Using Data

10. Bruner’s Research
 CPA Approach
 Spiral Approach

13. Public School in Chile

14. Concrete  Pictorial 
Abstract
15 3=5
symboli
c
iconic
enactive

16. 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

17. A curriculum as it develops should revisit
these basic ideas repeatedly, building upon
Primary 2 them until the student has grasped the full
formal apparatus that goes with them.
Bruner 1960
Primary 3
Primary 4
Primary 5

18. Dienes’s Research
 Variability

23. Skemp’s Research
 Relational Understanding
 Instrumental Understanding
Conventional Understanding

27. Improving Instruction
 Strategy 1
 Curriculum Document

28. Improving Instruction
 Strategy 2
 Textbooks

29. Improving Instruction
 Strategy 3
 Leadership

30. Improving Instruction
 Strategy 4
 Professional Learning

31. MCI Pedagogy
for Professional Learning
 As a Learner
 As an Observer
 As a Reflective Teacher

32. Singapore
MCI Pedagogy
for Professional Learning
 As a Learner
 As an Observer
 As a Reflective Teacher

33. MCI Pedagogy Hawaii, USA
for Professional Learning
 As a Learner
 As an Observer
 As a Reflective Teacher
South Korea

34. MCI Pedagogy
for Professional Learning
 As a Learner
 As an Observer
 As a Reflective Teacher
Singapore

35. MCI Pedagogy
for Professional Learning
 As a Learner
 As an Observer
 As a Reflective Teacher
Singapore
New York, USA

36. Japan

37. The Netherlands

38. Singapore
MCI Pedagogy
for Professional Learning
 As a Learner
 As an Observer
 As a Reflective Teacher

39. All major international tests (literacy, science and mathematics) between
1964 and 2003 were placed on a common scale. Selected countries
shown in the table.
Score 1960-1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
500 Japan Hong Kong Hong Kong Hong Kong
Japan Japan Japan
Korea Korea Korea
Singapore Singapore
400 Thailand The Philippines Malaysia Malaysia
Singapore Thailand Thailand
Thailand
300 Indonesia Indonesia
The Philippines The Philippines
Reference: E. Hanusek, D. Jamison, E. Jamison & L. Woessmann (2008)

40. mathematics

41. dislike math
grade eight mathematics
advanced
like math
average
Singapore 611 48 32 23
South Korea 613 47 8 56
Taiwan 609 49 14 53
Hong Kong 586 34 19 37
Japan 570 27 9 53
International 500 3 26 31

42. intermediate
grade eight mathematics
advanced
average
high
low
Singapore 611 48 78 92 99
Malaysia 440 2 12 36 65
Thailand 427 2 8 26 55
Indonesia 386 0 2 15 43
International 500 3 17 46 75

43. Improving Math
Instruction
The Singapore Experience
Dr. Yeap Ban Har
Marshall Cavendish Institute
Singapore
Da Qiao Primary School, Singapore
banhar@sg.marshallcavendish.com
Slides are available at www.facebook.com/MCISingapore