Model Drawing truly test the understanding of concepts

Below are five examples of 5 different questions with 5 different models showing 5 different concepts and all having the same number statement as the answer.
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Hi Sub_evov76,


I agree with hquek. First thing you need to establish is where are her weaknesses. It could be language. It could also be the basic concepts. Ensure she truly understand basic arithmetic first. Patience is key. Do not rush your child. Always put yourself in her shoes. Many things to adults are simple but from a child's stand point it may not be so.

When doing problem sums, you should try to interact with her to understand her logic. Getting the logic right is more important than getting the answer correct. MOE is able to create 5 different questions testing 5 different concepts with 5 different models. Yet all these five questions have the same number statement and answer.

Around July/August 2011 period you may download a publication from our website that will provide you some teaching tips for problem sums. Meanwhile, the link below have some tips that you can use http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=19004&start=70

hquek:

hi sub_evov76,

If problem sums are what she has problems with, could it be she may not understand what the question is? in that case, perhaps you may want to focus on reinforcing language rather than maths.

Actually I don't do worksheets with DS. I ask him to do it while I'm at work, and then I go home to mark, and go through what was wrong or what he don't know.

Math Classic Trick - How to Proof Two is equal to One


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TIPS 8 FOR ALL - BODMAS


Students who apply arithmetics without taking into account the rules of BODMAS are prone to “careless” mistakes.

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TIPS 7 FOR ALL - HOW TO PRAISE YOUR CHILD?

As our children face their final month of revision before the exam season starts, many parents are looking for the words to motivate their offspring. But could they be mistakenly praising the value of ability over effort, asks Matthew Syed.
\tTake a glance at these expressions of encouragement:
\t\"You learned that so quickly, you're so smart!\"
\t\"Look at that drawing. Are you the next Picasso or what?\"
\t\"You're so brilliant - you passed that exam without really studying!\"
They come across as precisely the kind of confidence-boosting statements that should be given to children or, indeed, anyone else. Such phrases are used in homes and classrooms every day, particularly with exams looming.
But are they benign? Or could they unlock the reason why so many children are failing at school and elsewhere?
Intelligence-based praise orients the receiver towards the fixed mindset - it suggests to them that intelligence is of primary importance rather than the effort through which intelligence can be transformed.
To find out we need to take a quick detour into the science of expertise, and ask a question. Where does excellence come from? For a long time, it was thought the answer to this hinged, to a large degree, on genetic inheritance. Or, to put it another way, it is all about talent.
It turns out that this is mistaken. Dozens of studies have found that top performers - whether in maths, music or whatever - learn no faster than those who reach lower levels of attainment - hour after hour, they improve at almost identical rates.
The difference is simply that high achievers practise for more hours. Further research has shown that when students seem to possess a particular gift, it is often because they have been given extra tuition at home by their parents.
This is not to deny that some kids start out better than others - it is merely to suggest that the starting point we have in life is not particularly relevant.
Why? Because, over time, with the right kind of practice, we change so dramatically. It is not just the body that changes, but the anatomy of the brain.
A study of pianists, for example, showed that the area of the brain governing finger movement is substantially larger than for the rest of us - but it did not start out like this; it grew with practice.
The question of talent versus effort would not matter terribly much if it was merely theoretical. But it is so much more than that. It influences the way we think, feel, and the way we engage with our world.
To see how, consider a youngster who believes excellence is all about talent - labelled the \"fixed mindset\". Why would she bother to work hard?
If she has the right genes, won't she just cruise to the top? And if she lacks talent, well, why bother at all? And who can blame a youngster for this kind of attitude, given the underlying premise?
If, on the other hand, she really believes that effort trumps talent - labelled the \"growth mindset\" - she will persevere. She will not see failure as an indictment, but as an opportunity to adapt and grow. And, if she is right, she will eventually excel.
What a young person decides about the nature of talent, then, could scarcely be more important.
Think how often you hear children saying \"I just lack the brain for numbers\" or \"I don't have the coordination for sports\". These are direct manifestations of the fixed mindset, and they destroy motivation.
Those with a growth mindset, on the other hand, do not regard their abilities as set in genetic stone. These are the youngsters who approach tasks with gusto. \"I may not be good at maths now, but if I work hard, I will be really good in the future!\"
So, how do we orient our children to the growth mindset? A few years ago, Carol Dweck, a leading psychologist, took 400 students and gave them a simple puzzle.
Afterwards, each of the students were given six words of praise. Half were praised for intelligence: \"Wow, you must be really smart!\" The other half were praised for effort: \"Wow, you must be hard working!\"
Dweck was seeking to test whether these simple words, with their subtly different emphases, could make a difference to the student's mindsets. The results were remarkable.
After the first test, the students were given a choice of whether to take a hard or an easy test.
A full two-thirds of the students praised for intelligence chose the easy task - they did not want to risk losing their \"smart\" label. But 90% of the effort-praised group chose the tough test - they wanted to prove just how hard working they were.
Then, the experiment came full circle, giving the students a chance to take a test of equal difficulty to the first test.
The group praised for intelligence showed a 20% decline in performance compared with the first test, even though it was no harder. But the effort-praised group increased their score by 30%. Failure had actually spurred them on.
And all these differences turned on the difference in six simple words spoken after the very first test.
\"These were some of the clearest findings I've seen,\" Dweck said. \"Praising children's intelligence harms motivation and it harms performance.\"
Intelligence-based praise orients the receiver towards the fixed mindset - it suggests to them that intelligence is of primary importance rather than the effort through which intelligence can be transformed.
And this takes us right back to those expressions of praise we started out with. They all sounded like confidence-boosting statements. But now listen to the subliminal messages in the background:
\"If I don't learn something quickly, I'm not smart.\"
\"I shouldn't try drawing anything hard or they'll see I'm no Picasso.\"
\"I'd better quit studying or they won't think I'm brilliant.\"
This reveals a radical new approach to the way we engage with children - that we should praise effort, never talent; that we should teach kids to see challenges as learning opportunities rather than threats; and that we should emphasise how abilities can be transformed.
Experiments from around the world have shown that when parents and teachers adopt this approach, and stick to it, the results are remarkable.
(SOURCE: Matthew Syed, The Myth of Talent and the Power of Practice)
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Dear all,


One common type of question tested by schools for P5 and P6 are questions to test the students' ability to analyse and interpret data from a data table. A common type of data table would be the \"taxi fare table\" where the understanding of the term \"part thereof\" would be tested. We attached some of the extracts of 2010 top school papers that test the students these concepts.

Parents, you may like to share these with your children. They should try at least two of these type of questions as part of their SA1 preparation.

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TIPS (6) FOR P4 - PERIMETERS, DETERMINING THE UNKNOWN



Perimeter is the length of the border or outer boundary of a 2-D figure. To determine the perimeter of a figure we will be required to sum up the length of the figure’s outer boundary.

It is typical in a perimeter question that information on some sides of the figure are intentionally left missing. Usually a question will be set such that it is impossible to determine the measurement of each and every sides of the figure based on the given information.
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TIPS (5) FOR PRESCHOOLERS - TEACHING SPATIAL POSITION


A 2 year old child is first able to distinguish ‘in’ and ‘out.’ Then s/he will eventually recognize front-back, top-bottom, left-right, and then near-far. Learning about spaces is revolutionary to a child. Adults understand the concept of space through many experiences but children cannot yet learn in this way. It is not necessary to teach too much in detail about specifics when first teaching about positions. We will need to guide our little ones constantly so that over time, they can intuitively and grasp the overall concept.

Keep this in mind when teaching little children about spatial position. The child should learn about directions within the total space and not think that right, up, left, down are separate. Usually, it is preferable to teach directions in the order of up/down, left/right, left/up, left/down, right/up, right/down.

TIPS (4) FOR P5/P6 - AREA OF TRIANGLES


Attached is a commonly tested \"Area of Triangles\" concept. Share this simple and commonly tested concept with your children.

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TIPS (3) FOR P3 - GUESS & CHECK


GUESS & CHECK questions typically are first introduced at P3. Challenges P3 students faced in Guess and Check questions are:
Challenge 1> Could not recognise the question is a G&C question
Challenge 2> Tedious as G&C questions require tabulation and numerous arithmetic computation.
\t 2a> Prone to error (careless mistakes)
\t 2b> Take up precious examination time

How to work around challenge 2?

Step 1: Solve the question using the 4 steps method (see attached pic).
Step 2: Tabulate the G&C table as required by the school using the answer derived from step 1.


Pic 1
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How to work around challenge 1?

There is no short cut way around this. Students need to be exposed to more G&C questions to learn to recognise them. Usually G&C questions deals with legs and wheels, but these days G&C questions comes in many forms. See attached pic 2.

Pic 2
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Limitation

This methodology will work only for P3. G&C questions for upper primary are very different.