Wenxi Lee is the founder of Singapore Math Circle. She grew up in Singapore and went through 12 years of Singapore's math curriculum as a student, part of the first generation of Singaporeans taught the fully developed curriculum, including bar modeling from first grade. She holds an undergraduate degree in mathematics and art history from Washington University in St. Louis and a PhD in math education from the University of Illinois at Chicago, specializing in Singapore math. She has taught Singapore math in Chicago for close to a decade and is the author of The Secrets to Singapore's World-Class Math Curriculum.

Why Wenxi is a different kind of Singapore math expert

Most people teaching or writing about Singapore math in the U.S. learned it as adults, through certification programs, training materials, or self-study. I'm one of the few in the space who actually grew up inside the system I now teach. I spent 12 years as a student in Singapore's national math curriculum, taught by some of the country's best math teachers at some of its top schools, using the exact methodology I now explain to American parents. I never received outside math tutoring growing up.

DRAFT IMAGEWenxi Lee in her Pei Chun Public School uniform, where she began Singapore's math curriculum as a primary school student

DRAFT IMAGEWenxi Lee in her Methodist Girls' School uniform during her secondary school years in Singapore

DRAFT IMAGEWenxi Lee in her Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) uniform, one of Singapore's top pre-university schools

That firsthand experience matters because Singapore's curriculum wasn't designed to be exported. It was designed for a highly centralized, unified national education system. Understanding how it was actually taught, not just what the textbooks say, is the gap my background fills. (See this in practice in What Is Singapore Math?)

Background

I didn't set out to become a math educator. I spent most of my childhood planning to become an architect, majored in mathematics and art history at Washington University in St. Louis after a short-lived stint in architecture school, and worked for several years as an advertising analyst in Chicago after college.

My path into math education started with volunteering as a tutor. Seeing the lack of genuine conceptual understanding in the students I tutored led me back to the curriculum I'd grown up with, and eventually to leaving my advertising career to pursue a PhD in math education, specializing in Singapore's curriculum, at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

I've spent close to ten years since then teaching Singapore math to students in Chicago and working directly with homeschool families navigating the curriculum.

Publications

Wenxi is the author of The Secrets to Singapore's World-Class Math Curriculum, which combines academic research with firsthand experience to explain the history, methodology, and common misconceptions of Singapore's approach to math education for a general audience.

Media Appearances

Wenxi has been a guest on education podcasts to talk about Singapore math and her book.

• The School of School Podcast, Episode 182: "The Secrets to Singapore's Success"
• Centering the Pendulum, with Bill Davidson

What Is Singapore Math Circle?

Singapore Math Circle is where I teach homeschool parents to use Singapore math the way it's actually meant to be taught, the version that produces the world's best math students, not the American reinterpretation of it.

When I first started tutoring, I looked for Singapore math resources to use with my students and found close to none. So I built my own, based on my own research and on how I'd been taught growing up in Singapore. Almost a decade later, I still see Singapore math being misinterpreted and misused. This is why Singapore Math Circle exists.

I recently became a mom, my son is 19 months old, and it's made me appreciate community more than ever. It brought me back to the math circles I used to lead years before starting this company, small groups that work through problems together. I wanted to build that same kind of collaborative space, open to homeschool parents and any teacher who wants in too, where we can learn together and give kids the best math education possible.

My ultimate goal is for people to realize that Singapore math isn't a Singapore-specific way of teaching math. It's how math education should be taught. Singapore is simply proof of what a research-based, scientifically grounded curriculum can do.

Frequently Asked Questions