Ohio Ace Education Marketplace

At Singapore Math Inc., we believe the highest quality math education should be accessible to all. Our commitment to this mission began 25 years ago when we introduced the U.S. to Singapore math, and it remains our guiding principle as we continually develop Singapore Math® material (ex: Our Dimensions Math curriculum launched in 2018 https://www.singaporemath.com/collections/dimensions) Our story began when founders Dawn & Jeffery Thomas moved from Singapore to the U.S. in 1997, and found their first grade daughter’s public school math program lacking. They began to supplement her education with the math curriculum used at her previous school in Singapore. Through this process, they realized that the Singapore math method was uniquely effective and that it would be useful to other parents and teachers in the community. They started selling the original Singapore Math program from their home in 1998 to share this powerful approach. Since those early years, Singapore math has become an established part of national and international conversations about math education. We’ve continually improved and expanded our programs to suit the diverse and ever-evolving needs of students and educators. One thing that will never change is our core belief that all students deserve an excellent math education. We know that a foundation in Singapore math creates the conditions for future success, and our goal is to make the finest math education in the world available to as many students as possible through approachable pricing and engaging material. In typical U.S. math programs, students get a worked example, then solve problems that very closely follow that example, repeating all the same steps with different numbers. In Singapore math, students must think through concepts and apply them in new ways from the very start. Since they can’t rely on simple replication, students are pushed to greater engagement and broader thinking. Singapore Math uses the Concrete, Pictorial, Abstract (CPA) approach which develops a deep understanding of math through building on existing knowledge. This highly effective framework introduces concepts in a tangible way and progresses to increasing levels of abstraction. In the concrete phase, students interact with physical objects to model problems. In the pictorial phase, they make a mental connection between the objects they just handled and visual representations of those objects. For example, real oranges (or counters standing in for oranges) are now represented as drawings of oranges. In the abstract phase, students use symbolic modeling of problems using numbers and math symbols (+, −, ×, ÷). By varying the methods and phases of CPA fluidly, educators help reinforce important connections. Students work towards math mastery when they view concepts with increasing levels of abstraction over time. Not all lessons include all three CPA stages as application of this approach varies by topic. Instead, CPA principles are woven throughout the curriculum, and support other important strategies such as number bonds, bar modeling, and mental math.