It Figures: Why U.S. Schools are Using Math from Singapore

Singapore’s Channel NewsAsia produces a show called “It Figures” described this way:

How do all the numbers and statistics on Singapore add up? IT FIGURES, figures it all out.

The premier episode of “It Figures Season 2” seeks “to find out why schools in the US are using our Math textbooks and adopting our way of teaching Math.”

Viewers were challenged to solve the Primary 5 Math problem below. Can you do it?

Most Singaporeans used Algebra.

Teacher Owen Lau uses the bar model method beginning at about 1:45:

Mr. Lau explains that “students can see better if a problem is presented in pictorial form.”  The following concepts are reinforced:

• The Model Method: Drawing diagrams and bars to represent math problems visually.
• The Model Method is not as abstract as Algebra, and helps students understand concepts instead of blindly apply math formulas.

The debut episode of “It Figures Season 2,” explaining the use of the Singapore curriculum in the US airs, on July 2, 2013.

Watch

Images and clip from the Channel NewsAsia website.