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Interviews 
Teacher interviews 
The most frequently occurring theme that 
emerged from the teacher interviews in 2009 
related to the training and support delivered by 
the county. Teachers stated that the county’s 
workshops, Singapore Math website, and 
devoted county- and school-based Singapore 
Math representatives facilitated a deeper 
understanding of the new mathematics 
curriculum. As a consequence of the county’s 
introduction of Singapore Math and ongoing 
professional development over two years, 
interviewed teachers stated there was sustained 
support and interest in the new curriculum. 
When asked to contrast Singapore Math with the 
preceding curriculum, Harcourt Math, teachers 
claimed that they possessed greater confidence 
delivering a curriculum that was described as 
more engaging, challenging, and creative than 
the previous. Some teachers distinguished the 
new curriculum from the prior one as more 
structured and teacher-centered that required 
mastery of skill, greater emphasis on student 
literacy to understand the mathematics 
curriculum, and development of higher-order 
thinking skills in students: 
I think it’s very evident this year more than 
in the past how much language impacts 
learning when it comes to mathematics. 
(Grade 1 Teacher) 
I have found that even my lowest math 
students – who before would really struggle 
– know they can understand the concepts 
better because you have the hands-on with 
the disc which makes it much more 
concrete: you say what the number looks 
like and how you can manipulate it and 
how you can change the number. I feel that 
has helped a lot, especially with the lower 
(ability) kids. (Grade 2 Teacher) 
Singapore Math was described by teachers 
as an approach to learning mathematics that 
moved from a “drill and memorization skill” to 
an interactive, rigorous approach of learning and 
instruction. Further, the activity-oriented 
approach to learning was viewed as 
communicating deeper conceptual depth of 
mathematical concepts and fostering more 
critical and higher-order thinking skills in 
students. Teachers also stated that they had 
greater expectations of students and noticed 
higher formative test results as consequence of 
the new approach to learning mathematics.
Teachers claimed that students learned 
Singapore Math through hands-on activities. The 

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GATEways to Teacher Education 
A journal of the Georgia Association of Teacher Educators 
VOLUME 14, ISSUE 1 
PAGE 31 
integration of manipulatives was a way to model 
and demonstrate concepts as well as an approach 
that fostered student learning in the concrete and 
pictorial stages of development: 
I’m more of a facilitator. We have a lot of 
time for the kids to practice and use the 
manipulatives. I introduce all the concepts 
and we try to work in a lot of time for the 
kids to work in small groups and to do 
centers and activities with what they have 
learned and also do a lot of practice, 
especially when you get to the algorithms 
for additions and subtraction - they just 
need a lot of practice with that. Give them 
what they need, introduce the concepts, and 
give them time to use it. (Grade 2 Teacher) 
Rather than memorize concepts, teachers 
stated that bar modeling, number bonds, and 
manipulatives fostered students’ conceptual 
understanding of mathematics through model 
drawing and challenging activities. In contrast to 
the previous curriculum, teachers described 
Singapore Math as a “rigorous program” that 
demanded strong reading strategies from 
students and sought learners to think about 
numbers in their head so “they’ll be stronger 
with the understanding of number sense and 
kind of help them concentrate.” In the process, a 
few teachers claimed that they asked more 
“why” questions to deepen the students’ 
understanding of mathematical strategies, such 
as “Why do you think we are doing it this way?” 
or “Why are we doing this?” The rationale for 
adopting this form of interaction was to instill 
higher-level thinking skills and independent 
learning: 
We’re more focused on having students 
explain their reasoning and getting into the 
higher level thinking skills rather than just 
rote getting math facts. (Grade 1 Teacher) 
We are getting them to see for themselves 
what the patterns are and what the rules are. 
Yes, I’m going to tell them, but I want 
them to start trying to figure it out for 
themselves as well. (Grade 3 Teacher) 
One teacher observed that the ability to 
competently communicate the Singapore Math 
curriculum to learners depended upon a 
teacher’s patience, flexibility, strong 
understanding, and preparation of Singapore 
Math’s central concepts and strategies: 
I feel like with Singapore you have to 
understand the math and the thinking 
behind how you’re going to teach them the 
math if that makes sense. And if you can’t 
think that way, then you’re not going to be 
able to teach them to think that way. (Grade 
1 Teacher)
The new curriculum was not without its 
challenges and limitations. In the first and 
second year of implementation, some teachers 
reported difficulties with effectively teaching bar 
modeling and illustrating word problems, which 
sometimes confused student learning. Echoing 
some of the themes in the journal data,