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View all search resultsFrom toy bears to formulas: Making math tangible for Indonesian children
A hands-on approach to mathematics is helping Indonesian children move beyond memorizing formulas to understand the concepts behind the numbers.
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Learning by doing: Twin sisters Kimberly Georgia and Kathleen Victoria, 17, demonstrate their mathematics teaching approach on Aug. 26, 2026, in Jakarta. Their concrete, pictorial and abstract (CPA) approach uses hands-on materials and visual aids to make mathematics more engaging for children. (JP/Nur Janti)
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or young children, the number 10 can be difficult to imagine. The symbol “10” tells them little unless they can connect it to something they can see, touch or count.
This is where the concrete, pictorial and abstract (CPA) approach to mathematics comes in. The method moves through three stages, starting with real objects children can touch and move, followed by visual representations and, finally, symbolic representations using numbers.
The CPA approach draws on American psychologist Jerome Bruner’s idea that children learn through different forms of representation, moving from concrete experiences to visual representations and eventually to abstract symbols.
Singaporean educator Kho Tek Hong later brought this principle into Singapore’s school mathematics curriculum.
In Indonesia, the approach is being introduced to children by 17-year-old twins Kimberly Georgia and Kathleen Victoria, who are currently in their second year of high school. Through their educational program Bermain Matematika, which airs on state-run television TVRI, the twins teach younger children to see mathematics as something fun and worth exploring.
“If I say ‘one’, a child may only have the image of the number one in their head. But if I say ‘one cake’, they can picture a cake,” the twins said.
“If biology, physics and chemistry all have laboratories, why doesn't mathematics?” — Kathleen Victoria, Bermain Matematika cocreator
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