The Singapore method triumphs in the PISA tests

Why do Singapore's students reach the top of the PISA rankings year after year? The secret is in the Singapore method to teach mathematics, a revolutionary method that breaks molds with respect to traditional teaching and that is giving surprisingly satisfactory results among children and adolescents.

Currently, the PISA tests have become the most important assessment worldwide of the knowledge of the students of each of the participating countries. The escalation of positions in this educational level ranking seems not to be studying more, but to teach better and at the highest point of these aspirations is today the methodology developed in Singapore, a skill that is already investigated by teachers from all continents and that many countries are thinking of incorporating into their education system.
At present, more than 3,000 schools in the US already use the Singapore method, and other countries such as the Netherlands, Brunei, Australia, India, Thailand, Libya, Chile and up to a total of 42 countries have already adopted the Singapore method.


The effectiveness of the Singapore method for learning mathematics

The teaching of standard mathematics in the Western world has become obsolete thanks to this method that helps students "see" the numerical relationships after going through an abstract phase based on drawing and another depth of thought based on the creation of solvers from problems.

The Singapore Method arises in the National Institute of Education of that country to teach mathematics in a didactic way. Fong Ho Kheong, a Singaporean professor, was the designer of this methodology that is now exporting all over the world, based on lecturing and opening centers for teaching mathematics in the United States, Australia or Southeast Asia.


The proponents of the Singapore method consider that one of the problems of children, who do not advance in mathematics, is a poor reading that prevents them from understanding the texts of the problems. To overcome this deficiency, this method of learning mathematics was developed, applicable to all educational levels, whose purpose is to learn to solve problems based on an adequate reading of the text, which allows its understanding and leads to its solution. The graphic disposition of the data or the handling of some objects as support for the comprehension, explanation and response that is given to the problem include the novel aspect of this new method that gives such good results.

The 8 steps of the Singapore method

In the Singapore Method, the teacher is a counselor and the learning is developed by the students with the guidance of the teacher. To solve any problem quickly and easily, these are the 8 steps proposed by the method.


1. Read the problem.
2. Decide and differentiate what or who is spoken of.
3. Draw a unit bar (rectangle).
4. Reread the problem phrase by phrase.
5. Illustrate the quantities of the problem.
6. Identify the question.
7. Perform the corresponding operations.
8. Write the answer with your units.

In this way, children first learn basic calculations with real everyday objects such as sheets of paper to decipher fractions, and then draw rectangular blocks that represent numerical values ​​to finally make calculations with figures and symbols.

Marisol New

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