high expectationssafety netsand

Yeap Ban HarNational Institute of Education

Nanyang Technological UniversitySingapore

banhar.yeap@nie.edu.sg

TEACHING & LEARNING OF MATHEMATICS IN SINGAPORE

Photo: Catholic High School (Primary)

High Expectations

in high-stakes national

examinations

Said Mrs Vivian Weng: "I think the setters feel it'll be faster for them to compute with a calculator. So the problems they set are much more complex; there are more values, more steps. But it's unfair because this is the first time they can do so and they do not know what to expect!" …"The introduction of the use of calculators does not have any bearing on the difficulty of paper. The use of calculators has been introduced into the primary maths curriculum so as to enhance the teaching and learning of maths by expanding the repertoire of learning activities, to achieve a better balance between the time and effort spent developing problem solving skills and computation skills. Calculators can also help to reduce computational errors." …Another common gripe: There was not enough time for them to complete the paper. A private tutor, who declined to be named, told MediaCorp she concurred with parents' opinions. "This year's paper demanded more from students. It required them to read and understand more complex questions, and go through more steps, so time constraints would have been a concern," the 28-year-old said.

Parents Up In Arms Over PSLE Mathematics Paper TODAY’S 10 OCT 2009

SINGAPORE: The first thing her son did when he came out from the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) maths paper on Thursday this week was to gesture as if he was "slitting his throat". "One look at his face and I thought 'oh no'. I could see that he felt he was condemned," said Mrs Karen Sng. "When he was telling me about how he couldn't answer some of the questions, he got very emotional and started crying. He said his hopes of getting (an) A* are dashed."

Not for the first time, parents are up in arms over the PSLE Mathematics paper, which some have described as "unbelievably tough" this year. As recently as two years ago, the PSLE Mathematics paper had also caused a similar uproar. The reason for Thursday's tough paper, opined the seven parents whom MediaCorp spoke to, was because Primary 6 students were allowed to use calculators while solving Paper 2 for the first time. Paper 2 makes up 60 per cent of the entire paper and consists of 18 questions.

parentalexpectations

Parents Up In Arms Over PSLE Mathematics Paper TODAY’S 10 OCT 2009

SINGAPORE: The first thing her son did when he came out from the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) maths paper on Thursday this week was to gesture as if he was "slitting his throat". "One look at his face and I thought 'oh no'. I could see that he felt he was condemned," said Mrs Karen Sng. "When he was telling me about how he couldn't answer some of the questions, he got very emotional and started crying. He said his hopes of getting (an) A* are dashed."

Not for the first time, parents are up in arms over the PSLE Mathematics paper, which some have described as "unbelievably tough" this year. As recently as two years ago, the PSLE Mathematics paper had also caused a similar uproar. The reason for Thursday's tough paper, opined the seven parents whom MediaCorp spoke to, was because Primary 6 students were allowed to use calculators while solving Paper 2 for the first time. …

Said Mrs Vivian Weng: "I think the setters feel it'll be faster for them to compute with a calculator. So the problems they set are much more complex; there are more values, more steps. But it's unfair because this is the first time they can do so and they do not know what to expect!" …"The introduction of the use of calculators does not have any bearing on the difficulty of paper. The use of calculators has been introduced into the primary maths curriculum so as to enhance the teaching and learning of maths by expanding the repertoire of learning activities, to achieve a better balance between the time and effort spent developing problem solving skills and computation skills. Calculators can also help to reduce computational errors." …Another common gripe: There was not enough time for them to complete the paper. A private tutor, who declined to be named, told MediaCorp she concurred with parents' opinions. "This year's paper demanded more from students. It required them to read and understand more complex questions, and go through more steps, so time constraints would have been a concern," the 28-year-old said.

Jim bought some chocolates and gave half of it to Ken.  Ken bought some sweets and gave half of it to Jim. Jim ate 12 sweets and Ken ate 18 chocolates. The ratio of Jim's sweets to chocolates became 1 : 7 and the ratio of Ken's sweets to chocolates became 1 : 4. How many sweets did Ken buy?

(Today’s 10 October 2009)

chocolates

Jim

Ken

sweets

12

18

12

3 parts 12 + 12 + 12 + 12 + 18 = 661 part 22

12

12

12

12

Half of the sweets Jim bought = 22 + 12 = 34So Jim bought 68 sweets.`

curriculumexpectations

David and Michael drove from Town A to Town B at different speeds. Both did not change their speeds throughout their journeys. David started his journey 30 minutes earlier than Michael. However, Michael reached Town B 50 minutes earlier than David. When Michael reached Town B, David had travelled 4/5 of the journey and was 75 km away from Town B.

(Primary School Leaving Examination 2004-2008)

assessmentexpectations

Main Topic Basic-Skill Items

Direct-Application

Items

Challenging Items

Total Items

Numbers 42 11 19 72

Measurements 7 19 14 40Rate 1 8 10 19Ratio & Percentage

2 7 10 19

Algebra 0 7 0 7Geometry 11 12 11 34Total 63 64 64 191

Yeap 2009

An Analysis of Released Items PSLE 2004 – 2008

homesupport

Photos: Seminar for Parents on Problem Solving

“Last Saturday, Mum and Dad went to school – to learn the

model method so they can help me with schoolwork. But Mum

said she did not get it. In the end I had to teach her.”

schoolsupport

Photo: Telok Kurau Primary School

“Sometimes my teacher gives me remedial classes. Some

people go for Maths Olympiad training. My maths is not good.

I don’t go for that.”

“In my school, we have a fixed day for remedial lessons. I get a group of students to attend this regularly.”

schoolsupport

Photo: Telok Kurau Primary School

Photo:: Catholic High School (Primary)

Safety Netsin the education

system

Photo: Princess Elizabeth Primary School

Primary 1 students assessed not to have readiness for

mathematics and English language are taken out during

mathematics and English lessons. They learn in a smaller

group with another teacher.

This is the Learning Support Programme in Mathematics

(LSM). The LSM is for Primary 1 and Primary 2 and aims to help

students who may not have pre-primary schooling close the gap.

learningsupport

Grades 1 and 2

Photo: Princess Elizabeth Primary School

By the end of Primary 4, students who are assessed to not have mastered the basic

competencies are recommended to study

Foundation Mathematics in Primary 5 and Primary 6.

Foundation Mathematics revisits key content in Primary 1 to

Primary in an age-appropriate manner and includes just about sufficient Primary 5 and Primary

6 content for students to handles secondary school

mathematics.foundationmathematics

Grades 4 and 5

Photo: Northlight School

Students who failed the national examination by the end of primary school attend two schools set up specially to

maximize the potential of such students.

Run by dedicated principals and teachers with excellent track

record in dealing with low-achieving students, the schools

are free to develop and implement their own

curriculum.

dedicatedschools

Grade 7 onwards

available at math.nie.edu.sg/T3

Photo: PCF Kindergarten Pasir Ris West