For math-anxious students, teachers, and parents green to the Singapore model method, figuring out how a bar or model is to be drawn, based on the information given in the word problem, often instills fear and adds stress in them.

From the model solution, how does the author know that this part of the bar, or rectangle, must be longer or shorter than the other part? How does he know that the bar representing the unknown quantity isn’t longer than the one representing the known quantity? How does she know that some part of a bar must be divided into a certain number of parts? These are some conceptually valid questions that authors of textbooks and supplementary titles seldom address, even in the teachers’ guides. The truth is that we, math educators, don’t know the answer, until we start dirtying our hands.

Below is a typical grade 3 Singapore math word problem, where the positioning of the bar model, placed right after the question, often puzzles instead of enlightens readers.

Few students have the opportunity to witness how teachers try drawing a model, when faced with an unfamiliar word problem. They don’t see the behind-the-scenes dirty work (drawing, erasing, remodeling, erasing, …) until a sensible model is obtained, which fits the information given in the question. It’s never too early for us to help students build up their confidence, by sharing with them that mathematical success often comes after multiple failures, small as they may be.

Reference
Lee, A. (2010). Challenging word problems in primary mathematics 3. Singapore: Panpac Education Private Limited.

© Yan Kow Cheong, February 18, 2013.

The left cover is a Singapore edition; the right cover is a US edition—from which the sample question was taken.

This is the current US edition of the grade three 236-page supplementary math title—the bestseller can be ordered from SingaporeMath.com for about ten dollars.