5 Effective approaches to teach Singapore Mathematics

It is globally well-known fact that Singapore Math is challenging because the syllabus is constructed as such, for various reasons but the prime reason is the importance of mathematics in today’s world. In this 21st century, countries strongly believe that specializing their young generation in the area of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) is essential for an economy to be globally competitive. Mathematics is the basic requirement for many jobs on demand today and should students perform well in it in their school and junior college, they have a bright future ahead of them for their career. 

Understanding mathematical concepts can generally be challenging for many students. Some students seem to grasp quickly and excel, while others unfortunately lag behind because they require more time to internalise concepts and apply them to derive answers. The moment students perform poorly in a few tests and start to realize that they are lagging behind their classmates, their confidence level drops and this is dangerous because this will cause them to form hatred a towards the subject and every time they try to solve mathematical problems for homework assignments or class tests, they would feel helpless, unsure and will be reminded of their past failures. This mentality is counterproductive, and in order to derail from this disaster, students need proper attention or that close guidance for them to excel. The best support system parents can provide their struggling child with is to arrange Math home tuition. 

And math tuition teachers (be it home tutors, tuition centre teachers or online tutors) generally follow a few techniques and methods of teaching to push their students’ grades up.

So, let’s take a look at 5 effective approaches that good tutors will take in order to teach this ‘intimidating’ subject!

#1: STRENGTHENING THE BASE

Singapore’s education system follows a “mastery method” in mathematics, and this means that the system emphasises the importance of a thorough understanding of the core concepts which act as the foundations. Beginner concepts like times tables, addition and subtraction should be introduced gradually, and they exposed to numerous types of questions that test these concepts.

Big ideas should be broken down into smaller concepts, and as much as possible, hands-on activities can be incorporated in order to make theoretical concepts come alive for easy understanding. As an advanced approach, tutors move on to teach using model drawings, etc. Be it maths home tutors or school maths teachers, everyone should make it a point to build their student’s foundation to be as strong as possible. 

#2: TACKLING FALIURES 

Teachers have to know how to lift their students from a setback or failure. The motivation is essential and teachers should teach students as to why those failures are important for success. Analysing an assignment or test paper with students, going through each and every question in person is an excellent way to understand students’ misconceptions, mistakes, strengths and weaknesses, and thinking process. This will help students tremendously and they will know how to mould their failures into successes fearlessly. 

#3: PATIENCE

It is not exactly a technique, but an important characteristic that is needed for sure. Knowing mathematics is not an easy subject, it should also be understood that mastering it takes time. The moment tutors reassure and emphasise this fact, as well as practice this virtue, students will automatically pick this characteristic up and it will help them to great extent. This understanding is what will keep them going and motivate them till the last lap. 

#4: CONFIDENCE

Solving mathematical problems require question analysis, hypothesising, trail and errors, deriving a systematic solution and knowing how to present solutions in a neat and clear manner. Confidence is of paramount importance in order to carry out these steps successfully solve questions, and should a student lack of it, that will be the biggest barrier to excelling in this subject. Hence tutors should teach their students to keep asking questions, keep learning and never fear failure. 

#5: HIGHER-ORDER THINKING/ CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS

Higher order thinking skills (HOTS) or critical thinking skills has become an educational demand in today’s math syllabus and this requires more cognitive processing. Skills involving analysis, evaluation and synthesis (creation of new knowledge) are higher order, requiring different learning and teaching methods than the learning of facts and concepts. This is very useful when applying knowledge to solve novel situations, and this is what is required in today’s day and age. This takes time to nurture, but it's not impossible.

These are the 5 most effective techniques among the very many out there which teachers use to guide their students. Teaching and nurturing a student is a challenging process, but it is fun and very fulfilling at the same time!

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