Parent Videos

Fundamental Idea

Dr. Yeap talks about one of the fundamental ideas in mathematics: that items can only be counted, added and subtracted if they have the same nouns. Using simple objects like chocolates and glue sticks, Dr. Yeap illustrates the point and then shows how it relates to column and fraction additions.

Number Bonds

Number bonds represent how numbers can be split up into their component parts. In this video, Dr. Yeap explains how young children can use counters, blocks or other simple materials to make various number bonds.

Subtraction

By using children’s knowledge of number bonds, Dr. Yeap explains how standard column subtraction can be easily taught. Once children understand how numbers can be split into their component parts, they can adapt this knowledge to understanding the conventional column subtraction method.

Mental Calculations

Dr. Yeap discusses how children can develop an ability to calculate the four operations — addition, subtraction, multiplication and division — in their heads without the use of paper and pencil or calculators.

Multiplication

By using visualisation and other simple strategies, children can easily learn their times tables. Watch as Dr. Yeap explains.

Long Division

Dr. Yeap discusses how children can first learn to do long division by breaking numbers up into simpler combinations. Then they can explore how this concept can be used to learn the long division algorithm.

Bar Model 1

Watch as Dr. Yeap shows how to solve word problems by using rectangles to represent unknown quantities. This method of visualising is known as the bar model.

Bar Model 2

Dr. Yeap gives another example of the bar model by showing how rectangles can represent quantities, both known and unknown, to help solve word problems.

Dr. Yeap Ban Har is the Director of Curriculum and Professional Development at Pathlight School, an autism-oriented K-10 school in Singapore. An experienced educator, Dr. Yeap spent ten years at the National Institute of Education, Singapore, where he was involved in several research programmes in mathematics education, and where he taught a range of teacher education courses, including Problem-Solving Heuristics in Primary Mathematics and Curriculum Studies in Primary and Secondary Maths. He regularly works in collaboration with the Curriculum Planning and Development Division of the Ministry of Education in Singapore, and was part of a team which reviewed the Singapore maths curriculum for the revised 2013 syllabus.

Dr. Yeap continues to teach courses at tertiary institutions such as the National Institute of Education (Singapore), Wheelock College (Boston) and Rajabhat Maha Sarakham University (Thailand). He also sits on the advisory board of the SEED Institute and several schools in Singapore and Asia.

Maths — No Problem! is a company dedicated to helping children understand mathematics by supporting schools and parents with maths mastery training and materials for use in the classroom and at home.