New Curriculum

Primary Maths
Introduction

Traditional Maths Learning

Recall how you were taught mathematics ?
rote memorization of mathematical concepts
teacher would give a drill and kill homework.
The next day: same procedures but over a
different concept.

Cambridge International Curriculum

What makes an effective lesson?

Clear sharply focused learning objectives
FUN!
A range of teaching styles to provide for a range
of learning styles
A good pace.
Differentiation -the needs of all children are met
Good organisation
Planned-for Assessment

Active Learning
Learning is not a spectator sport.
The more actively engaged the learner is, the
more learning takes place.
Different instructional methodologies have
greater rates of retention.

Learning
Pyramid

Problem-solving skills
What is a problem?
A problem is something you do not immediately know how
to solve

Why students are not confident to step into problems

independently and opt to immediately turning to us as
teachers to ask what to do?
Students require thinking and playing-with-the-problem
time.

How to help students to develop the skills they need to

tackle problems?
Classroom culture which values questioning, deep thinking,
making mistakes

What is good mathematics teaching?

Key questions for teachers are:
What makes the teaching of mathematics
motivating and interesting to pupils?
What methods are the most successful in
helping pupils understand the concepts of
mathematics and the relationships between
them?

SINGAPORE MATHS

Singapore Maths CPA

Concrete

Pictorial

Abstract

Singapore Maths Bar Model Method

Singapore Maths Implementation

CPA (Concrete, Pictorial, Abstract) approach
This is really good approach to introduce some math
concepts

Famous Model Method

Basically a more pictorial replacement for more abstract
algebra method. Good method for Primary students.

Implementation of curriculum depends on the resources

that are available within a country.
Singapore is a well-resourced country in education

Culture
Theres a culture of doing worksheet in Singapore

Singapore Maths Implementation

Teaching time for mathematics
Up to 22% of total teaching time for Grade 4 in Singapore

Assessment and testing practices (PSLE)

Teaching Maths is more or less PSLE oriented

Strong government support and monitoring

Singapore measures each schools value-added
contribution to students achievement (annual
performance assessment)

Higher Order Thinking Skills

Rarely asked to analyze, reflect, critique, develop,
synthesize, or explain. Mostly computation tasks
recalling facts and procedures

Singapore Maths as part of

Educational System
Singapores educational system
the curriculum, the teachers, the parental
support, the social culture, and the strong
government support of education-has succeeded
in producing students who as a whole understand
mathematics at a higher level, and perform with
more competence and fluency.

Teach Fraction to Grade 2

Grade 2 enrichment(NRICH):
Part and Whole
The learning objectives is to use a Bowl of 4
types of fruits to let learners know there are
smaller components called parts out of a
whole thing.
To use creative ways (tapping their knowledge
of small money value) to introduce the skills
needed to complete the Games

Teach Fraction to Grade 2

Grade 2 enrichment(NRICH):
Part and Whole
The learning objectives is to use a Bowl of 4
types of fruits to let learners know there are
smaller components called parts out of a
whole thing.
To use creative ways (tapping their knowledge
of small money value) to introduce the skills
needed to complete the Games

Initial Activities to start the class

Lesson can be started by checking students
understanding of halves, quarters of certain
amount of money (e.g. of Rp10000 and
Rp4000)
Check their comprehension as a routine

Introduce the game (A bowl of fruits)

Assess how much background information needed
before starting the game activity.
Introduce new terms like whole & part
Inform the students the winner will be the one
guess the number of fruits correctly 3 times.
Teacher arranges the fruits in the bowl unseen by
the students and then ask the question out. After
3 rounds, allow a student to arrange the fruit, but
teacher is still the one asking the question.

Students actively play

Chosen students arrange the fruits and keep

the unselected fruits in a hidden container until
teacher decide to reveal.
The other students guess the number of fruit
asked.

Plenary of the lesson

Revisit that fraction is part of whole
Assess learners understanding
Rearrange the fruits. Ask what is the number of each fruit.
Also what is the total number if all the fruits.
With the condition ask the fraction of each type of fruits.
Ask which and how many fruit(s) should be taken out of or
put in the bowl suppose they all must have equal fraction

Share learning experience. Show the mistakes made

and corrected it
Increase the
for maths

Initial Activities to start the class

Lesson can be started by checking students
understanding of halves, quarters of certain
amount of money (e.g. of Rp10000 and
Rp4000)
Check their comprehension as a routine

Introduce the game (A bowl of fruits)

Assess how much background information needed
before starting the game activity.
Introduce new terms like whole & part
Inform the students the winner will be the one
guess the number of fruits correctly 3 times.
Teacher arranges the fruits in the bowl unseen by
the students and then ask the question out. After
3 rounds, allow a student to arrange the fruit, but
teacher is still the one asking the question.

Students actively play

Chosen students arrange the fruits and keep

the unselected fruits in a hidden container until
teacher decide to reveal.
The other students guess the number of fruit
asked.

Plenary of the lesson

Revisit that fraction is part of whole
Assess learners understanding
Rearrange the fruits. Ask what is the number of each fruit.
Also what is the total number of all the fruits combined.
With the condition ask the fraction of each type of fruits.
Ask which and how many fruit(s) should be taken out of or
put in the bowl suppose they all must have equal fraction

Share learning experience. Show the mistakes made

and corrected it
Increase the
for maths

Cambridge View on Mathematics

Cambridges global expertise conclusion

Addressing Issues of standards
What is important
Consolidation and Enrichment vs
Acceleration and Wider Content Coverage

Cambridge Methodology and

Approaches
The resources
Investigatory approach for the skills of
problem solving
Encourage learners to be independent
thinkers
Classroom discussion is encouraged

Why Cambridge Primary Mathematics

?
The curriculum framework has
six stages and five strands:
Number, Geometry, Measure, Handling data
and Problem Solving.
Mental strategies.
Focuses on principles, patterns, systems,
functions and relationships

Why Cambridge Primary

Mathematics?

Components

Teachers Resources with CD-ROMs (main)

Learners Books (supplementary)
Games Books with CD-ROMs (supplementary)
Challenges (supplementary)

Cambridge Assessments
Diagnostic Assessments (no passing mark)
Cambridge Primary Checkpoint
Cambridge Checkpoint (for Secondary)

Summative Assessments
Cambridge IGCSE/O Level
Cambridge AS & A Level

Diagnostic vs Summative
Assessments
Diagnostic Assessments
focus on one area or domain of knowledge
Summative Assessments
to check their mastery of a subject

Types of questions
Closed questions are a lower order, require only a
single word response.
What is 3 45?
Is 7 a prime number?
What is the time?

Open questions are a higher order, require an

extended response.
How do you calculate 3 45?
Explain how you would estimate the time it would
take to walk 10 km.

Fraction Match
(https://nrich.maths.org/6938)
What are you aiming to do?
Every member of the team has to end up with a set of four
cards in front of them that are related to each other in a
similar way.
The task is only successfully completed when everyone on
the team has completed their set.

As a team:
Responding to the needs of others
Helping others to do things for themselves.

Fraction Match
(https://nrich.maths.org/6938)
Getting started
You will need to work in a team of four. One observer
as the fifth person (not part of the team).
Distribute the 16 cards randomly amongst the team
(four cards each).

How to play
Players pass cards to other team members in order to
help one another complete their set.

Fraction Match
Rules
No one can talk or give non-verbal signals to other members of
the team.
Each member of the team starts with four cards in front of them.
The cards in front of each person should be visible to everyone.
Team members can only give cards; they cannot take cards from
someone else.
Each team member must have at least two cards in front of them
at all times.
Use an observer to check that the team obeys the rules and to
keep a record of when members of the team help someone else
(rather than, for example, when they just pass a piece on without
looking at what the other person or team actually needs).

Advantage of the group game

This cooperative learning way can help the
low and middle level ability children better
than they do work / activity individually. They
can tap on each others skills.
Any mistake made will be spotted together
and can be addressed for all students on the
spot.

Plenary of the lesson

This is designed to develop learners' team working

skills.
Introduce several ways of naming a fraction
Assess learners understanding
All team members who think he/she has the correct match
of cards has to explain/reason to teacher and the whole
class why their cards are correct.
Teacher can correct and give input on the spot.

Fun will motivate them to learn. Any mistakes made

will be learned on the spot
Increase the
for maths

Exercise for upper primary:

Different usages of fractions
Group work (3 5 students)
Materials: a set of newspaper
Scan the newspaper to:
List the fraction used in the newspaper, stating the
role of the number in the context
Classify the different uses of the fractions
State how many different and distinct uses of
fractions

Plenary of the lesson

This is designed to assess further learners
understanding of the topic and develop learners'
application skills.
Introduce several real usage of fraction
Assess learners understanding
Students who Teacher can correct and give input on the
spot.

Increase the

for maths

Challenging Fraction Questions for

Grade 2 and Grade 5
page 44 of CPM Challenge Grade 2 book
page 49-51 of CPM Challenge Grade 5 book

Towards HOTS Enrichment (NRICH)

in Primary 5 Maths

The lesson objectives

To introduce different ways of problem solving
in Maths
To encourage all learners to actively engage
with the idea of problem solving in Maths

Primary 5 Teachers Resources

Group students into pairs

Teachers Role
Teacher can explain the rule by using less
numbers, for e.g. just using 1,2,3,4,5,6 to group
into 3 piles
Different students will try various approaches to
solve the problem
Teacher should guide by observing the progress
done by some pairs of students first, then share
their approach in front of the class, and give
them some clue to move forward if they are
stuck.

Key Questions by Teachers

What number must all the piles add to?
What is the total of each pile?
How do you know you have all the solutions?

Benefits of the activity

Problem solving will encourage students to
explain, generalise, reason and justify
Enhance their Maths Learning
Thinking about thinking

Lots of thinking in progress

Eynesbury CofE Primary School, St

Evaluation
Evaluate the lesson.
The dialogue between the students with the
teacher is important.
All the discussion, explanation, pair work and
FUN help
Students need to employ certain strategy
leading to final decision making
Help those who are still struggling.

Problem Solving Method

Solving the problem with whatever ways
possible
Examples: A frog jump up a long steep and
slippery slope. Every jump it jumps is 2 m but
for every landing it skids down a few cm. In
total, it skids down 3 m to reach its finish line
which is 9 m from where it starts. How many
times the frog must jump?

A typical model of good practice:

Problem Solving Lessons
The problem solving lesson should be structured
and progressed through four distinct phases:
presentation of the problem;
developing a solution;
progress through discussion;
summarising the lesson

Can still use the traditional methods?

Inductive method

Steps: Presentation of examples, observation,

generalisation, testing and verification
Examples:
1+1 =2, 3+3=6 sum of two odd numbers are even
finding the formula of area and circumference circle by
cutting its sectors and rearranged into a rectangle
Suitable in the beginning stages and formula, rules,
definition are to be formulated

Deductive method
Steps: clear recognition of the problem, search for a
tentative hypothesis, formulating a tentative hypothesis,
verification
Examples: a (b +c) = ?
Suitable for cramming (revision), higher level

Laboratory and Outdoor Methods

Student learning by doing
Need equipment
Examples:
use colour papers, ruler to prove formula of triangle,
beakers.

Suitable for geometry, some for algebra

Appropriate for small class
Different size of beakers and volume
measurement apparels can be used to learn
fraction

Project Method

step 1.
step 2.
step 3.
step 4.
step 5.
step 6.

Creating the situation

Proposing and choosing the project
Planning the project
Execution of the project
Evaluation of the project
Recording of the project

Project Method
A few projects suitable for school mathematics:
Posting a birthday gift
Bake/cake sale
Laying out a school garden.
a Baking Project with a recipe (for fraction).

Role of teachers and their beliefs on

mathematics

a traditional view of mathematics: a hierarchical

construction of knowledge which is objective,
faultless and universal; therefore, the main aim of
teaching is to convey this knowledge.
mathematics as a human activity: the strategies
people use to solve problems, the context,
continuous change, cultural factors, school
subjects and the practice that represents them
and the commitment to values and imperfection.
Alternatively, the teaching of mathematics can
emphasise problem-centred teaching and the
process itself

The modern belief of teaching

constructivism

Knowledge is a mental representation that a

person constructs in his or her mind. Learning is
the process of active construction by the learner.
Emphasis is on teaching mathematical thinking,
not only mechanical skills.
More attention is paid to how to learn, than to
what to learn.
Pupil-centred methods: functional and operational
elements, games and playing, concrete everyday
problems and situations, and mathematical
explanations.

Co-operational methods help in

mathematics teaching

everyone can become a better learner by helping

others to learn, and by learning together with
others.
the use of heterogenic groups and the
methodological solutions of co-operation help the
lower-achieving and less motivated pupils.
role of a teacher in co-operational work is to
create a learning community
We learn mathematics by doing and using
mathematics. Speaking and discussing are
important elements of mathematics.

Playing learning games

is a natural way of working for a child, and one
way to make the mechanical counting practice
interesting.
through playing games both problem-solving
and deduction skills can be developed.
playing learning games is motivating and
brings excitement to the mathematics lessons.
Playing the game gives pupils more space:
they can study in their own rhythm.