"Singapore Plan" by Laura Pappano
Source: Boston Globe - 4 March 2001
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/063/learning/Singapore_plan+.shtml
It wasn't enough for Bob Hogan's fifth-graders at Ashby Elementary School to know five of 20 people in class had seven letters in their last name. It wasn't enough to say ''five-twentieths'' or simplified, ''one-fourth.''
Nope. Hogan wanted it expressed as a decimal (.25), a percentage (25 percent), and a ratio (1:4). Nor was it enough that students did conversions in their heads. Hogan wanted to hear how they did it - and another way to get the same answer. And when that was done, ''now give me an explanation using money,'' Hogan said.
Money, decimals, percentages, ratios, fractions - all in the space of a few minutes. Logical as it seems, in traditional American math texts these concepts inhabit different chapters - and rarely meet.
But Hogan's students aren't doing American math, they're doing Singapore Math.
The curriculum, developed by Singapore's Ministry of Education, earned Singapore students the top math scores on the Third Inter-national Mathematics and Science Study while American students scored near the bottom of the 41-country comparison.
If it works for them, why can't it work for us?
That thinking led Mary Waight, associate superintendent for curriculum for the North Middlesex Regional School District, which includes Ashby, Townsend, and Pepperell, to pilot Singapore Math in five classes in grades 5 through 8.
Hard data won't be available until this spring, but early reports on the challenging curriculum are driving the district to rethink its approach to math.
''When you see them teaching concepts to students that we thought this population couldn't handle, it's clear that students are more capable of higher math learning at a younger age,'' said Waight. The district is enrolling all seventh-graders in pre-algebra and all eighth-graders in algebra next year - not just the elite 25 to 35 percent of students typically selected. And teachers in younger grades are studying ways to use Singapore Math to introduce tough math concepts earlier.
So what is it about Singapore Math that's so revolutionary?
Most noticeable: The curriculum expects students to master skills and then put them to use.
By contrast, many American math courses use a spiral approach, returning year after year to the same units - just with longer digits - believing that if you teach a concept enough times, students will eventually get it. In fact, some students simply get turned off.
The Singapore Math curriculum also requires students to apply several math concepts in a single, multi-step problem. This means students are applying all their math skills all the time. American texts tend to call on skills only within a particular unit - asking, for example, only fractions problems in the fractions chapter.
''A lot of math textbooks are designed so you will spend weeks doing review,'' said Richard Bisk, math professor at Fitchburg State College, who is overseeing the pilot.
In Singapore Math, he said, ''instead of reteaching fractions, when you have problem-solving questions, they will assume the knowledge of fractions.''
Several students in Hogan's class said Singapore Math is harder, but using several skills at once helps math make sense.
''I know this is an oxymoron or something, but being harder makes it easier,'' said Gregory Tacconi-Moore, 11. ''I think we've got all this immense knowledge at the back of our heads. Singapore makes you pull it out from the back and put it in front so you are using it more.''
Despite such raves, there are concerns. Some complain about the cultural orientation - word problems use foreign fruits and Asian surnames - and Singapore Math only uses the metric system. The curriculum also doesn't teach probability, Bisk said, which Massachusetts standards require middle school students to learn.
Bisk, Waight, and other educators, though, have a more troubling concern: Can teachers without a strong math background handle the program? With the current teacher shortage and a particular dearth of teachers with math training, Singapore Math may be too tough for many to teach.
Nonetheless, Singapore Math is attracting attention. Even as it remains new and unorthodox - the inexpensive curriculum books are sold through a mom and pop Web site based in Oregon - a handful of schools nationwide are trying it.
Nora Flood, director of studies and math teacher at the Madison Country Day School in Madison, Wis., has been using Singapore Math for four years.
Flood said results at her school bear out that students really understand math, are more confident, and enjoy it...
Hogan, who has taught fifth grade for five years, also insists he is seeing results. This year, he said, students already have covered - and understand - concepts previous students didn't reach until June. And, perhaps most critical, Hogan sees enthusiasm for math.
''Class participation is greater than I've seen. Kids are not as apprehensive. There is a lot more homework completion,'' he said. ''While I would never say everybody in the class likes math, I do think a majority of the students enjoy math class'...