60 years of math education in Singapore

Lee Peng Yee

Nat Inst of Ed Singapore

Math education in terms of

syllabus and textbooks

Interviews

We ask 4 persons the questions

• What mathematics did they learn?

• What textbooks did they use?

• How did their teachers teach mathematics?

• How did they learn mathematics?

5 periods in 60 years

• After WW II to first local syllabus in 1959

• From syllabus A and B to syllabus C

• Maths reform in the 70’s

• Back to basic

• The new initiatives since 1997 (refer to Soh Cheow Kian)

Singapore

• Land area: 683 sq km (263 sq miles)

• Population: 4 million

• British colony for around 150 years

• Independence in 1965

• A service hub for sea, air, finance etc

Maths Reform in 70’s

• Introduced modern topics

• It induced massive re-training of teachers

• First locally produced textbooks

• More peer learning and less reliance on teaching

• Mathematics (up to Grade 10) made compulsory since 1974

Back to basic

• It coincided with merging of different language schools and streaming of students

• New syllabus with primary school textbooks produced by MOE

• Calculators since 1982 and all examinations in English since 1984

First local syllabus

• First local syllabus 1959 using the spiral approach

• Options to teach mathematics as a unified subject or with different branches

• Used imported textbooks

• No statistics, calculus in Additional Mathematics (Grade 9-10)

• Syllabus and teaching were traditional

Early days

• Built more and more schools

• Schools run by missionaries and local communities

• No public exam and no streaming

• Expatriate teachers and foreign textbooks

• Chinese schools known to be better in mathematics

Summary

• 1945 – 1960 Early days

• 1960 – 1970 First local syllabus

• 1970 – 1980 Maths reform

• 1980 – 1995 Back to basic

• 1995 – 2005 New initiatives (refer to

Soh Cheow Kian)

Major events

• Merging of different language schools

• Streaming of students with different abilities

• From foreign syllabus and textbooks to locally produced

• From expatriate teachers to locally trained

• From professional training to nurturing entrepreneurship

Outcome

• Mathematics is taught in English

• Practise differentiated teaching

• More science stream students and mathematics compulsory

• Build up local expertise in textbook writing, teacher training and research

• Own system and nowhere to copy

Teach less to more

Teach less mathematics

to more students

Words in Chinese

One aspect of cultural background

• Teaching 教学 means teaching and learning

• Learning 学习 means learning and practising

• Parabola 抛物线 means a projectile

• Radius 半径 means a half of the diameter

Looking forward

• There will be a genuine reduction of content

• We make thinking more explicit in teaching

• There will be other modes of assessment

• The use of technology makes learning more experimental

• We expect an increasing use of resource materials in teaching

Teacher preparation

• Highlight subject knowledge

• Teach for exam and also teach for learning

• Assessment for learning and not learning for assessment

Conclusion

• The system is more structured and more officially regulated

• It will remain so for the next 5 years

• More room for innovation in classroom teaching

• It depends on the availability of local resource materials

END

pylee@nie.edu.sg

Chicago 2005