Everything About Sandra Bullock & the ‘S’pore Math’ Confusion

By
Shawn Ambrose
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In most countries, maths exams are designed to test the mathematical aptitude of a student.

(Just so you know, “maths” is commonly used in British English while “math” is used in American English.)

In Singapore, maths exams test a student’s knowledge of quantum physics, philosophy, and neuroscience, all while asking questions about coins and marbles.

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It’s quite impressive, really.

Much like how Americans in the US don’t call burgers “western food” as we do here, Singaporeans never refer to our brand of mathematics as “Singapore maths”.

But “Singapore math” is apparently quite popular abroad, and everyone outside Singapore is equally aware of how difficult it can be.

Everything About Sandra Bullock & the ‘S’pore Math’ Confusion

Many of us know Sandra Bullock, the Hollywood actress who has starred in movies such as The Blind Side, Bird Box, and The Unforgivable, to name a few.

Bullock recently made an appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show, and the pair talked about everything from the pandemic to helping children with their homework.

At one point in the interview, Kelly Clarkson notes that the maths curriculum is constantly changing, and that it can be hard to keep up.

In response, Bullock said that in her house, her children do “Singapore Math”, before making a face very familiar to invigilators of local maths exams:

Image: YouTube

“Is that the new math that I’m like what?” Clarkson asks.

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“Yup, well that’s the new math in our house that I don’t understand,” Bullock replies.

“So, I don’t even try,” she adds.

That’s a choice many of us took in school as well.

For those who don’t know, Bullock has two children, aged eight and 11, both ages at which Singaporeans would have learnt algebraic geometry and nuclear physics.

Interestingly, Bullock isn’t the only American actress who has talked about “Singapore Math”.

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Hilary Duff Left Scratching Her Head After Son Attempts Primary 2 “Singapore Math” Question

Back in 2019, when Omicron was a word no one outside Greece used, American actress and singer Hilary Duff shared an Instagram post that went viral in Singapore:

 

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A post shared by Hilary Duff (@hilaryduff)

Talking about her son’s schoolwork and sharing her struggles with it, Duff called Singapore Math “the shit”.

So, what the heck is this “Singapore Math”, and why does everyone love it?

A Supplementary Maths Curriculum 

Rather than rote memorisation, Singapore Math develops problem-solving skills using a three-step learning model – Concrete, Pictorial, Abstract.

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In the concrete or “doing” stage, students use concrete objects to model problems.

In the pictorial or “seeing” stage, students use visual representations of concrete objects to solve problems.

And in the abstract or “symbolic’ stage, students use abstract symbols (numbers and maths symbols) to solve model problems.

This “Singapore Math”, or as we know it, maths, was actually a programme developed under the supervision of the Education Ministry back in 1982.

And it was so next level that there’s now an established company in the United States with that very name.

The co-founders of Singapore Math, Jeffrey and Dawn Thomas, explained that they moved from Singapore to the U.S in 1998 and found the American public school maths program lacking.

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So, they created a supplementary maths curriculum like the one used in Singapore schools. Unlike students here, it turns out that Americans really like Singapore Math, so they expanded their business and started selling their Singapore Math program from their house.

The company now distributes textbooks to several thousand schools in the US and Canada.

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Shawn Ambrose
Email: [email protected]