EAPSI: Cultural Underpinnings of Singapore Students' Good Performance in Mathematics: Implications for Mathematics Educators in the US

长期以来，美国中小学生数学成绩差的问题一直困扰着美国。这一直是数学教育工作者和决策者所关注的问题。多年来，政策制定者和教育工作者一直试图通过改革来纠正这种情况，改革的目的是改善教学法、教师资格和课程。尽管进行了这些改革，但问题依然存在。相反，新加坡的小学生和高中生在数学方面的表现非常出色，在世界上名列前茅。因此，新加坡已成为一个广受欢迎的国家，为来自西方的数学教育家提供建议，包括美国。然而，他们忽略了一个领域，也没有征求意见，那就是新加坡的数学教育文化领域。这种教与学数学的文化正是本项目所要研究的。理解文化规范和学生课堂行为之间的联系有助于为包括美国在内的世界其他地区的数学教学和数学教育政策提供信息。该项目将在新加坡国家教育研究所进行，由Berinderjeet Kaur博士指导，他的主要研究兴趣是数学教师的课堂教学法。这项合作提供了对独特数据的访问，这些数据将使人们能够对学生的数学表现有新的见解。人类学家普遍认为，有些群体在学校表现良好，因为他们的文化与学校文化一致（Ogbu，1982）。因此，本项目将试图了解社会的文化规范和学生的行为。该项目将采用民族志方法，试图了解新加坡的文化规范与学生和教师的课堂行为之间的关系。学生和教师的课堂和课后文化将被研究，文化规范对学生的影响？学习和做数学的能力将被探索。课堂观察和教师、学生及其家长的访谈将使用录音和录像带进行。在新加坡东道主的帮助下，将为这个项目选择学校并招募参与者。该奖项是在东亚和太平洋暑期研究所计划下设立的，旨在支持美国研究生的暑期研究，由NSF和新加坡国家研究基金会共同资助。

The United States has been bedeviled with poor mathematics performance of elementary and high school students for a long time now. This has been the concern of mathematics educators and policy-makers alike. Policy-makers and educators over the years have tried to remedy the situation by means of reforms - reforms aimed at improving pedagogy, teacher qualifications, and the curricula. Despite these reforms, the problem persists. On the contrary, Singapore's students in both elementary and high schools are performing exceedingly well in mathematics, and are ranked among the best in the world. Singapore has, therefore, become a sought-after country for advice for mathematics educators from the west, United States included. However, one area which they overlooked, and have not sought advice is the area of mathematics education culture in Singapore. This culture of teaching and learning mathematics is what this project seeks to study. Understanding the linkages between the cultural norms and the classroom behaviors of students can help inform mathematics instruction and mathematics education policy in other parts of the world, including the United States. This project will be conducted at the National Institute of Education, Singapore under the mentorship of Dr. Berinderjeet Kaur, whose primary research interest is in classroom pedagogy of mathematics teachers. The collaboration provides access to unique data that will enable new insights into students' mathematics performance. Anthropologists generally believe that some groups do well in school because their cultures are congruent with school culture (Ogbu, 1982). This project will therefore try to learn about the cultural norms of the society and the behaviors of students. Employing ethnographic methodology, the project will seek to understand the relationships between cultural norms and classroom behaviors of students and teachers in Singapore. The classroom and after school cultures of students and their teachers will be studied, and the impact of the cultural norms on students? ability to learn and do mathematics will be explored. Classroom observations and interviews of teachers, students and their parents will be conducted using audio and video tapes. The schools for this project will be selected and participants recruited with the help of my host in Singapore. This award, under East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes program, supports summer research by a U.S. graduate student and is jointly funded by NSF and the National Research Foundation of Singapore.