Singapore Math is a cohesive, deep, and focused mathematics curriculum, for Kindergarten through Seventh Grade, with the goal of developing algebraic thinking.
Singapore Math not only helps students become more successful problem solvers, it helps them gain a sense of confidence and resourcefulness because it insists on conceptual depth. This naturally prepares students to excel in more advanced math.
Singapore Math for K-7th Grade
Algebra is a systematic approach to describing patterns and relationships and finding unknown numbers or quantities. It is a complex tool and body of knowledge, requiring strong numeracy, procedural fluency, and an ability to abstract. The explicit study of algebra begins in Eighth Grade, and the Singapore Math curriculum is the strongest available to prepare students for that challenge.
Developing Number Sense
The Singapore Math curriculum presents math problems first concretely, then pictorially, and only after these steps in abstract terms that we recognize as an algorithm.
For instance, students might begin with a problem of adding apples, say 2 apples and 1 apple. They might use disks, blocks, or other objects that illustrate more and less and what it is to regroup. The next step would have them represent the problem on paper, using units, likes 1s, 10s, and 100s. Finally, they would encounter the problem as 2+1=3.
The benefit of this multiple representation approach, which treats the algorithm as present all along but not uncovered immediately, is the principal way in which Singapore Math develops number sense.
The overall effect is that students are typically able to succeed in algebra one year earlier than they would using many other curricula now available.
Impact for 8-12th Grade
With the groundwork of algebraic thinking in place, students in the upper school and high school progress to deeper levels of mathematical application, including geometry, trigonometry, pre-calculus, calculus, and statistics/probability.
Success Beyond the Classroom
Singapore Math is a world-renowned mathematics teaching approach that prepares students to excel in advanced mathematical fields. This opens many doors for them after graduation. Whether they choose to study advanced mathematics in college or not, Singapore Math provides foundations that will consistently influence our scholars’ thought process and view of the world, allowing them to be rational, ask questions, and dig deep with stamina to find answers.
