Singapore Math Framework 
Singapore Math
S.A.M program is known for Simple and effective award winning curriculum based on Singapore Math. Singapore Math is developed around the idea that problem solving and mathematical thinking are the key factors for success in math. It involves acquisition and application of mathematical concepts and skills in a wide range of situations, including non-routine, open-ended and real-world problems. S.A.M approach focuses on content mastery, not memorization to make math meaningful to children.
The main features of Singapore Math Framework are:
Concept Learning: Children at S.A.M learn mathematical concepts in areas of numbers, algebra, geometry, statistics, probability, and data analysis. Concepts are reinforced using math manipulative, game boards and other concrete materials.
Skills and Processes: Children primarily focus on why rather than on how. They learn a variety of skills and processes in order to understand why a mathematical principle works. Parents take pride when their children demonstrate steps to solve a word problem. At S.A.M, we focus on developing following skills in children:
Analytical Thinking: The ability to break down a complex problem into simpler parts in order to understand its inner relationship. It includes:
- Part & Whole: Recognizing and articulating the parts that together form a whole.
- Specializing: Using previously acquired skills to explore and get a sense of the structure or idea supporting a particular math concept.
- Generalizing: Identifying the pattern that is consistent among several instances of the supporting idea.
- Doing & Undoing: Reversing/undoing a process that produced a particular goal to get a greater insight into the nature of the operations.
Critical Thinking: The process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, analyzing, observing, reasoning or evaluating information. Sometimes it is easier to understand what it is when we realize what it is not. It is not “Too many facts, too little conceptualizing, too much memorizing, and too little thinking.”
Logical Reasoning: The ability to apply mathematics in different context to construct logical arguments. The focus of Singapore Math is on teaching mathematical thinking as opposed to rote problem solving.
Heuristics: Develops the understanding of how to use different methods and strategies in different problems.
Spatial Visualization: It is a mental model or image that organizes data at hand in a meaningful structure and guides in developing analytical solution. In short, we can describe it as a “Picture This” ability. It is a predictor of mathematical reasoning and numerical operations skills. It is described as a gateway to superior problem solving.
Data Analysis: The process of interpreting the meaning of the data that has been collected, organized, and displayed in the form of a table, bar chart, line graph, or other representation. The process involves looking for patterns—similarities, disparities, trends, and other relationships—and thinking about what these patterns might mean.
Model Drawing: It is a visual approach to problem solving in which manipulative or bar diagrams are used to represent increasingly challenging word problems involving part-whole relationships or proportional reasoning. Students learn to visualize the word problem and develop the understanding to solve it.
Connections: To develop the link between mathematical ideas and everyday life to help students learn mathematics from a practical sense.
Number Bonds: The pictorial representation of the relationship between a number and the parts that make it. It helps children see the inverse relationship between addition and subtraction, the inverse relationship between multiplication and division, understand math facts, and think algebraically.
Word Problems: It is the application of mathematics in real world situations through problem solving. Model drawing is the key strategy to solve word problems.
Mental Math: It enables students to picture in their minds and calculate without using paper and pencil.
Attitudes: We believe that a child’s attitudes such as beliefs, interest, appreciation, confidence, and perseverance are important predictor of his/her performance. At S.A.M center, we strive to cultivate right attitudes in a child and hope that those attitudes would also be transferred in other areas of child’s life too. A child who is having fun while developing a good understanding of concepts and acquiring skills is more likely to have positive ideas about the importance of math and confidence in his/her ability to solve problems. We strongly emphasize independent thinking and self-discovery in every child in our program.
Metacognition: Metacognition is teaching one’s brain to control the thought processes for the purpose of solving a problem. When we coach students by asking questions such as ‘what information is given in the problem?’ and ‘what areas of math could we use to solve this?’, metacognition is when students ask these questions for themselves. Metacognition is when the conscious brain becomes a coach for itself.