Bar Model (Singapore) Maths (An aid to calculations)

Vocabulary

enactive, concrete

iconic, pictorial

symbolic, abstract

bars

Hints and Tips

This method of supporting maths calculations was developed from the research of mainly Jerome S. Bruner see Stages of Learning

It is the pictorial or iconic stage, following on from working with objects.

Your child has had much practise working with objects and pictures so should be ready to progress to working with bars to support his/her calculations

Essential Prior Knowledge

Know that models can help with calculations.

Activity

Just as with any new concept Bar Model Maths will need to be taught. As with all strategies this may suit your child's way of thinking or it may not.

It is good practice to offer a number of strategies and encourage your child to use the one he/she likes best.

There is a way of introducing this method that will be explained below. 

Your child started by counting familiar things that he/she could physically handle and line up in a row, for instance, counting bananas, He/she learned basic maths concepts with these objects.

Next, your child used pictures. These were used in a random pattern but now should be placed in a row with a box around each picture so there's one box for each object. Over time he/she will become confident and drop the pictures and just draw the boxes. 

Gradually, once he/she is confident with drawing boxes, your child will start to write the number of boxes as a figure above the drawing.

Over time he/she will no longer need to draw all the boxes. Your child will just draw one long box or bar and label it with the number. This step away from one-to-one representations to symbols is crucial and may take quite some time for your child to become confident with it. 

This model of numbers as labelled bars is known as the Bar Model (Singapore), and it's a tool your child can use to understand almost any concept in maths, including multiplication and division and even algebra.