Using the Singapore Bar Model
Team 2
Bar Model Defined
Stages of the Bar Model
- It helps students focus on comprehension of the problem, rather than picking out numbers and performing a random operation with them.
- It clearly lays out the structure of a problem.
- It helps students visualize a problem so they can understand which operation they should perform.
- Concrete
ex: manipulatives or literal drawings
2. Pictorial
ex: dots that represent another object
3. Abstract
ex: bar models with corresponding numbers
Noticing and Wondering
Noticing: Students discuss a word problem as a class or in groups and they discuss what they notice by listing the facts in the problem.
Wondering: The planning part of problem solving in which students talk about the strategies that they use to solve a particular problem. It can also be a restatement of the problem in the students own words.
Outcomes: Student ownership and deeper comprehension of the question, slowing down the thinking process and surfacing all of the information in the question. It reinforces problem solving as a process and understanding what it means to revise an answer and put it in a complete sentence.
Translating Word Problems to Bar Models
The Bar Model approach is helpful while solving word problems for four main reasons:
- It allows students to visualize the problem that they are being asked to solve.
- It creates concrete pictures from abstract situations.
- It allows the students to learn through the acts of seeing and doing.
- It translates words into pictures which may be easier for some people to understand.