You have explained this so simply and accurately . I am currently working as a coach and are focussed on these style of teaching. I have been mentoring and coaching with the main focus on improving student engagement. Thank you for putting together this video that links the 5 guys.I have seen the difference in the students learning. Thank you
Thank you. Now I understand the math my son had been bringing home from his school. This is similar to the stuff they were teaching. He is able to do algebra math calculations in his head. He went to a GOOD school in TX. This is why there are learning gaps with old traditional math teaching. LOVE this video!
I remember my secondary school days. They gave Ipad lessons and group work to encourage group discussions (kinda before the topic was actually taught) so in a way, students will learn their mistakes and know how to tackle that topic in a more efficient way
Both Bruner and Piaget will tell you that abstract reasoning develops in children negligibly until ~12 years of age. It is a mistake to think that the CPA approach is designed to do this. Rather the pictorial part is to develop visualization and, importantly, to enhance the recall of the numbers constructed with the blocks, by sketching what has been built. It is not to magically make the leap to abstract thinking! The notation part is just that: notation, not abstract manipulation of symbols or reasoning of any kind. It is just heuristic notation, very useful, even necessary, and can be taught without abstract throught. Abstract reasoning develops in a child at about the onset of puberty. You can't force it, and will only induce anxiety, and possibly trauma, if you do. Singapore Math succeeds more because of the culture of discipline in their schools than because of any magical development of abstract thinking prematurely in young children. More in my book: The Complete Method.
I help a lot of students with their homework and most of the time it is mindless maths drills every question the same. One afternoon I spent a whole hour writing numbers in scientific notation, I was losing the will to live and I think the student felt the same. Maths drills are to maths what house painting is to art.
The downside to collaborative learning as to math in particular, is that in any group you will have kids who are quicker and smarter than other kids who learn at a slower pace. So, the quick-learners will always be there with the answer almost from the get-go leaving the slower learners to just be given the answer before they have come to it on their own. Am I wrong on this point?
It’s interesting that researchers found that human beings are born with visual brains and that maths is best learned in a pictorial way. I suspect this is the reason why the Chinese excels in maths. The Chinese language is a pictorial language and it’s highly likely that the Chinese language has played a significant role in facilitating the Chinese’ learning of mathematics.
I am sorry I have to disturb the hurray-party a bit. Singapore students are taught to score well in tests. Once it comes to real life problems it's a completely different thing. You probably will not listen to the voice of a "foreigner", hear what a Singapore student says: "... I'm a product of the Sg education system (up to high school), went overseas for college and now am in academia. The rote learning method that was taught to me was certainly very useful in ensuring I got my A's in uni (go pattern recognition!), and also allowed me to calculate things fast, but ultimately I realized that it did not give me a good training in logical and deductive reasoning. Maybe I'm an isolated case, but looking at my peers I think it's a common outcome in the sense that they viewed (and still view) math as formulae memorization. As a testament to the efficacy of the system they can still cite the quadratic formula "x = - b plus-minus square root b-squared minus four a c divided by 2 a" off the top of their heads I mean, that's not to say some drilling and practice isn't good, and if your aim is solely just to score in exams then Sg mathematics is great for that. And certainly compared to systems of other countries, this particular system is better in achieving the same outcome. But just bear in mind the costs of adhering to one teaching dogma or philosophy :)" This is from user NERVXXX, taken from here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-3padQ4BB43g.html
Very true, but he is dumb to give up thinking himself. And if you get down to it. If you insist to think, you will regularly get it wrong, but if you just follow the rules, it is easy to always be right. And blame the system when things go wrong. Whiners complaining about the SG system just don't want to take personal responsibility for any mistakes.
