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Ingenuity math teacher Felicity Ross was recently quoted in an Associated Press news article on the use of Singapore textbooks in advanced mathematics programs across the country (see full article below). Ms. Ross, who is the Ingenuity mathematics teacher at Robert Poole Middle School, explained that the Singapore textbooks have greatly aided Ingenuity students to develop their math skills, and to be "more confident problem-solvers in general." The Ingenuity Project uses Singapore mathematics textbooks in both 6th and 7th grades at all three program middle schools--Robert Poole, Southeast, and Roland Park. Ingenuity's advanced mathematics curriculum was changed in September 1998 to incorporate the textbooks. Dr. Yoram Sagher of the University of Illinois at Chicago met with Ingenuity mathematics teachers monthly for one and a half years (in 1998 and 1999). Dr. Sagher answered teachers' questions about the Singaporean approach, and how to use the texts with Baltimore City Ingenuity students. ************* Singapore has solution for U.S. math teachers *************
CHICAGO - In Professor Yoram Sagher's classroom, a dozen high school math teachers hunch over textbooks, scribbling their way through a tough geometry problem. His lesson today: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. The textbooks come from Singapore, the small Southeast Asian country whose students beat Americans and the rest of the world hands-down in math. Sagher and other math experts are encouraging U.S. school districts to use Singapore's books, particularly in elementary schools, to help foster mathematical success in a country consistently rated mediocre at best. "The curriculum believes in the students' abilities," Sagher said of books approved by Singapore's Ministry of Education. "One of the effects of these books on all teachers is that they are much more courageous about giving harder problems to students." Singapore's eighth-graders ranked No. 1 in math among 41 nations tested by the Third International Mathematics and Science Study, released in 1996. American eighth-graders came in 28th. The Singaporean textbooks - written in English, the language of instruction there - are lightweight paperbacks filled with sample problems and step-by-step explanations that help students understand not only how to use a formula, but why. Felicity Ross, a math teacher at Baltimore's Robert Poole Middle School, said U.S. textbooks tend to jump from topic to topic without helping students understand the basic concepts that connect all math problems. The Singaporean texts, with their multistep word problems and emphasis on logic, develop skills that help children solve all types of problems - even those they've never tried, she said. "They're more confident problem-solvers in general," she said. "I definitely think the textbooks have something to do with it." Baltimore began using the Singaporean books in a program for advanced middle school students last school year. Nora Flood, a math teacher at Madison Country Day School in Waunakee, Wis., has used the texts in elementary classes for three years and raved about how her students first work out problems with blocks or rods, then move to drawings on a page and finally learn the formula behind the problem. "These kids will understand these things from the gut," Flood said. "One of the greatest things I see is the confidence it builds in them." But even fans of the books note some problems. All measurement tasks use the metric system. And younger Singaporean students tend to spend much more time each day on math, so the lessons are too long for a typical U.S. class schedule. The biggest problem, though, teachers say, is that the further along students get in school using American texts, the more ill-prepared they are to understand the concepts in Singapore's higher-level books. Madge Goldman, a mathematics researcher whose foundation helped fund the Chicago teaching program and its classes, like the one being taught by Sagher, said that while math teachers she has worked with love the books, the texts alone won't solve the United States' math woes. "One of the really serious problems is that most elementary school teachers are expected to teach all subjects, and most of them barely managed to squeak through whatever math classes they had to take in college," Goldman said. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics recently recommended at least an hour of math a day in elementary grades. Goldman would go a step further, making sure math teachers are specialists in the subject, as they are in Singapore. Originally published on May 15 2000 |