Math was taught through pages of calculations until the main concept of what was being done got nailed into your brain via continuous repetition. To use pictures in teaching math was a rare idea yet was introduced in the 1960s. Jerome Bruner presented the CPA – Concrete -Pictorial -Abstract approach, which is increasingly used in math’s bar model.

E Singapore Math online classes can help you understand more about the bar model and its benefits. Visit here to learn more!

What is math’s bar model?

It is a pictorial representation of a concept or problem, where boxes or bars are used to signify the identified and unidentified quantities. You can solve problems with four operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division with bar models. In word problems, children visualize the problem and identify the operation to use. The bar model does not do the calculations, but makes it easy for students to work out the kind of calculation that needs to be done?

What’s bar modeling?

The bar model is also called the Singapore bar method. It is a math mastery-focused teaching method from Singapore, which is being used increasingly in the US, UK, and more. Bar modeling term is used for learning, teaching, or applying bar models to represent the identified and unidentified quantities.

Students drawbars that help them visualize as well as contextualize relevant information mentioned in the problem. It is crucial for the complicated word problem, where a student may get perplexed with surface information. The bar model helps them visualize maths more clearly.

With practice, students will learn to handle concrete objects to draw pictorial representations and ultimately progress towards abstract notations & algorithms to clarify a problem without the need to draw. They will label the bar/rectangle with a number.

Lasting advantage of bar model method

• The bar model is great for solving primary math problems as well as word problems that involve 4 operations like whole numbers, fractions, decimals, ratios, and percentages.
• It is a bridge that fills the gap between arithmetic and algebra.
• When used efficiently bar model method is a potent tool to solve complex math topics like statistics & data handling.
• Bar models need paper and pencil, so are highly versatile and useful for tests like the SATs reasoning papers.
• Bars abstractly represent amounts, which helps to make the transition using whole abstract numbers less difficult.
• Bar models help pupils develop mathematical thinking, interacting, reasoning as well as problem-solving skills.
• Bar modeling allows pupils to organize and restructure the textual information into a visual model, gain insight, and solve the problem.
• Bar modeling directs pupils towards mathematical articulacy and number sense. Rather than following given formulas the pupil possesses a solid understanding of what will actually happen when they apply the formula.
• The bar model is especially great for intermediate-level or underachieving students as visual representations and relationships between quantities are clear and helps them solve the word problem with ease.

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With all these long-term advantages of the bar model method or Singapore Math strategy, students can enjoy learning this subject. Besides, using Virtual Singapore math to train students and help teachers and parents to customize the options.