An unspoken commandment among parents and homeschoolers is: Thou shalt not introduce algebra to young kids without close adult supervision.
Looking at the unhealthy number of pre-school math titles in local bookstores, some Singapore math authors have set questions that directly or indirectly help promote algebraic thinking among toddlers and kindergarteners, particularly via the bar model method and number patterns, whether they’re pedagogically conscious of it or not.
Kiasu parents or tiger mums would buy assessment (or supplementary) math titles (often disguised as “parents’ guides”) to give their kids an “unfair advantage” over their peers.
On closer look, disappointingly, these preschool “enrichment math” books are often mere rehashed primary one (or grade one) assessment math titles.
I decided not to showcase any covers of these oft-drill-and-kill kindergarten math titles here to avoid any perception that I’m endorsing some local authors or their publishers.
Debatably, it’s no harm getting preschoolers to start thinking algebraically long before they’re formally taught generalized arithmetic. Yes to pre-algebraic thinking but no to algebraic notation or equation for kindergarteners.
Personally, I’ve yet to see any decent locally published K–2 Singapore math titles in bookstores (other than through some questions in children’s puzzles books), which creatively or systematically promote algebraic thinking skills.
In the last two decades, there had been a number of journal articles and a few NCTM (and even some AMS) titles that feature activities or nonroutine questions that champion pre-algebraic thinking at the kindergarten level.
It’s a pity that Pre-K and kindergarten teachers (and mathepreneurs) haven’t leveraged on these rich resources to come up with supplementary math titles to evangelize the algebraic gospel to K–2 students.
In Singapore, a mecca for brain-unfriendly, budget-friendly assessment (or supplementary) math titles, it looks rather surprising that local Singapore writers have so far not come up with an “Algebra for Babies or Toddlers” when local libraries already carry catchy foreign titles like Bayesian Probability for Babies and Pythagorean Theorem for Babies.
The time is ripe for creative math educators, local or foreign-born, to publish a creative algebra series for toddlers and kindergarteners of kiasu parents, but it looks like the writers who’d help pluck up the fruits are few. An untapped market for publishers that want to move away from canned or drill-and-kill preschool math titles.
Opportunistically & creatively yours
© Yan Kow Cheong, August 27, 2023.