Khoon Yoong Wong

Mathematics education : the Singapore journey

This comprehensive book is a state-of-the-art review of research and practices of mathematics education in Singapore. It traces the fascinating journey from the original development of the Singapore mathematics curriculum in the 1950s to the present day, and reports on diverse findings about the Singapore experience that are not readily available in print. All of the authors are active mathematics educators or senior mathematics teachers in Singapore, thus adding authenticity and distinctiveness to the stories covered in this book. The issues they so earnestly explore in this book will undoubtedly be of interest to graduate students, mathematics educators, and the international mathematics education community.

Mathematics Curriculum Policies: A Framework with Case Studies from Japan, Korea, and Singapore

Mathematics curriculum policy (MCP) can be differentiated from mathematics curriculum by the former’s focus on the objectives of mathematics education and practices implemented at different systemic levels by different groups of stake-holders to bring about those objectives, whereas the latter covers mostly mathematics curriculum standards, resource materials, and teaching strategies. Not much has been written about MCP in different education systems. In this chapter, we attempt to fill this “gap” by proposing a framework to cover four aspects of MCP: (a) policies about mathematics curriculum, the “what”? (b) agents who are engaged in policy-making, the “who”? (c) factors that influence the design of MCP within a particular “environment”, and (d) future directions of MCP. We will illustrate these four aspects by citing our experiences with MCP in three Asian countries, namely, Japan, Korea, and Singapore. Further research in mathematics curriculum policy can be stimulated through in-depth descriptions of intra-national experiences of policy formulation and implementation and inter-national analyses of similar experiences.

Use of Student Mathematics Questioning to Promote Active Learning and Metacognition

Asking questions is a critical step to advance one’s learning. This lecture will cover two specific functions of training students to ask their own questions in order to promote active learning and metacognition. The first function is for students to ask themselves mathematical questions so that they learn to think like mathematicians who often advance knowledge by asking new questions and trying to solve them. This is also called problem posing, an important component of the “look back” step in the Polya’s problem solving framework. The second function is for students to ask their teachers learning questions during lessons when they do not understand certain parts of the lessons. Students who are hesitant to ask learning questions need to be inducted into the habit of doing so, and a simple tool called Student Question Cards (SQC) can help to achieve this objective. These SQC cover four types of mathematics-related learning questions: meaning, method, reasoning, and applications. In a pilot study involving Grades 4 and 7 Singapore students, every student was given a set of these laminated cards. During lessons, the teacher paused two or three times and required the students to select questions from SQC to ask to clarify their doubts. This reverses the normal roles of teacher and students during classroom interactions. Teachers and students in this pilot study expressed mixed responses to the use of SQC. These two functions of student mathematics questioning have the potential to promote active learning of mathematics among school students through strengthening their metacognitive awareness and control. To realize this potential, teachers need to pay due attention to the science, technology, and art of student questioning.

Singapore and Brunei Darussalam: Internationalisation and Globalisation Through Practices and a Bilateral Mathematics Study

Internationalisation and globalisation involve many aspects. The first section of this chapter illustrates these aspects through practices of mathematics education in Singapore and Brunei Darussalam, including adapting global ideas about mathematics curriculum to local contexts, upgrading local publications to international level, and use of English as the main medium of mathematics instruction. On the other hand, comparative studies are often the medium through which both internationalisation and globalisation can take place. Many comparative studies such as TIMSS and PISA are multi-national and focus on students’ performance on mathematics items designed by panels of mathematics educators from different countries. In contrast, the second section describes a bilateral study between Singapore and Brunei Darussalam about pupils’ perceptions of mathematics learning. This study was a unique form of internationalisation because it was situated within a broader research agenda, with the noteworthy feature that mathematics educators met with non-mathematics educators to discuss education issues common to both countries. Despite wide differences in racial, cultural, and economic makeup, mathematics education in Singapore and Brunei Darussalam shares many similar practices. This chapter concludes with reflections about future issues of the internationalisation and globalisation of mathematics education

Mathematics education in Singapore

Mathematics education in Singapore is a shared responsibility of the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the National Institute of Education (NIE). The MOE overseas the intended, implemented and attained curriculum in all schools while the NIE is involved in teacher preparation and development and also research in mathematics education. Therefore this report has two sections respectively, the first describes the education system and school mathematics curricula while the second briefly provides relevant information on teacher preparation and development and mathematics education research in Singapore.