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Try it yourself: more CPA

A second sequence of CPA
In this step we introduce a second sequence of tasks from a textbook that was designed with many of the Asian maths principles in mind.

Han has 25 coloured pencils. Tya has 14 coloured pencils. How many coloured pencils do they have altogether?

Now do the following:

  1. First, look at the three pages below (pdfs are at the bottom of the step) to get a sense of the sequence of tasks.

  2. Try to distinguish the different phases: what is (more) ‘Concrete’, what is more ‘Pictorial’, and what is more ‘Abstract’?

  3. Now complete the tasks at the end. Try to complete them by remembering the three types of representation. Note that the idea is not that students have to do all three, but to think about the way the tasks can be represented.

  4. If you would like, you can comment on this article or you can add copies or scans of your solutions to this padlet.

  5. We provide our own solutions in the next step.

  6. Finally, you can watch the video, where we describe the whole process in light of CPA.

Note: These tasks come from ‘Max Maths Primary – A Singapore Approach’.

© University of Southampton
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World Class Maths: Asian Teaching Practice

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