This

2. Presentation at HCO, Dan Haag
Mayflower Primary School, Singapore
High Achievement &
Motivated Students:
Effects & Principles of The
Singapore Approach
The Hague
Yeap Ban Har
Marshall Cavendish Institute
Singapore
Slides are available at
yeapbanhar@gmail.com www.banhar.blogspot.com

3.  Land
 270 sq miles
 700 sq km
introduction  People
 5.3 million
 GDP per capita
 1965 USD500
 2011 USD50 000
Junyuan Secondary School, Singapore in current USD

4. High achievement was not a given. In 1960,
among 30 615 candidates who sat for the
first Primary School Leaving Examination,
45% of the candidates passed.
Today, about the
same proportion
achieve the
highest grade in
each of the four
subjects tested.
Keon Ming Public School, Singapore

5. All major international tests (literacy, science and mathematics) between 1964 and
2003 were placed on a common scale. Selected countries shown in the table.
Score 1960-1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
500 Japan Japan Japan Japan
Korea Korea Korea
Hong Kong Singapore Hong Kong
Hong Kong Singapore
400 Thailand Singapore Malaysia Malaysia
Thailand Thailand Thailand
The Philippines
300 Indonesia Indonesia
The Philippines The Philippines
Reference: E. Hanusek, D. Jamison, E. Jamison & L. Woessmann (2008)

7. Primary Mathematics (Third Edition)
See Ho, S. Y. & Yeap, B. H. (2011). Development of Visualization Skills in Singapore Primary
School Mathematics Textbooks. Paper presented at PME-35 Angkara, Turkey.
See also Yeap, B. H. (2011). The Emphasis of Primary-Level Textbooks in Singapore on
Higher-Order Thinking Skills. Paper presented at International Conference on School
Mathematics Textbooks Shanghai, China.

8. Primary Mathematics (Third Edition)

9. 1982
Piloting a New Approach to
Mathematics Teaching
1992
Introduction of Problem-
Solving Curriculum Mathematics is “an excellent
vehicle for the development and
1997 improvement of a person’s
Thinking Schools
Learning Nation intellectual competence”.
Ministry of Education Singapore 2006

10. Achievement
Attitude
TIMSS 2007
Singapore 71 41
Hong Kong 67 40
Taiwan 50 24
Grade 4
Japan 62 23
Kazakhstan 89 19
England 62 16
Russia 80 16
International 72 5

11. Achievement
Attitude
TIMSS 2007
Taiwan 37 45
S Korea 33 40
Singapore 60 40
Grade 8
Hong Kong 47 31
Japan 30 26
Hungary 30 10
England 40 8
International 54 2

13. Mean
PISA 2009
Shanghai 600
Singapore 562
Hong Kong 555
15 year-olds
S Korea 546
Taiwan 543
Finland 541
Liechtenstein 536
International 496

14. an example
Anchor Green Primary School, Singapore

15. Let the piece of paper
represents a cake.
3 fourths  3 =
3 1
3 
4 4

16. Let the piece of paper
represents a cake.
3 fourths  2 =
3 6 3
2  2 
4 8 8

17. Let the piece of paper
represents a cake.
3 fourths  2 =
2 fourths  2 =
1 fourths  2 =
3 1 1 3
2   
4 4 8 8

18. Let the piece of paper
represents a cake.
3 fourths  2 =
3 1 3
2  
4 2 4

19. Let the piece of paper
represents a cake.
3 fourths  2 =
3 1 3 3
2   
4 2 4 8

20. Let the piece of paper
represents a cake.
3 fourths  4 =

21. an example
Anchor Green Primary School, Singapore

22. The fill-in-the-squares problem demonstrates
the importance of looking for patterns.

23. Professional Development in Bunnik, The Netherlands

24. Jenaplanschool Cleophas, Utrecht, The Netherlands

25. 3 fourths  4 = 12 sixteenths  4 1 3
3 fourths  4 = ×4
4
= 3 sixteenths

26. the singapore approach
Mayflower Primary School, Singapore

27. Problem-Solving
Approach
Concrete-Pictorial-Abstract
Approach

28. Escuela de Guetamala, Chile
Students in Chile and The Philippines
using the CPA Approach to learn
multiplication and fractions.
Victory Christian International School, The Philippines

29. King Solomon Academy, London

30. Globe Academy, London

31. Students in Chile, England and The
Netherlands having lessons that
emphasized visualization.
Chile
The Netherlands
England

32. Problem-Solving
Approach
• The extended discussion challenges the advanced
learners to go beyond what they already know and to
think deeper, articulate better as well as to have
empathy for others.
• The extended discussion provides processing time for
struggling learners.

33. • The CPA Approach is based on theory of representations
which explains how students learn abstract ideas
(Bruner).
• The CPA Approach engages students’ multiple
intelligences (Gardner).
• The CPA Approaches focuses on higher-order
competencies such as visualization.
Concrete-Pictorial-Abstract
Approach