Was in Chile training some teachers. Glad to know it's in the classrooms and students found it useful.
Another question posed to participants at the workshop. Even though the model method is visual, to make it even more accessible to students, sometimes, we have to use concrete manipulation.
The model method is a powerful way to visualise problems and relationships between quantities. However, it is always good to understand that no one method is superior (they are just different) and other methods may be more appropriate at times. There are also problems that are best solved using other methods: One such "infamous" problem is as follow: I have some sweets. If I give 6 sweets to each child in my class, I have 20 sweets left. If I give 7 sweets to each child in my class, I am short of 5 sweets. How many children do I have in the class? :) (A P3 question or there about)
One of the questions done at today's teacher training session in Brunei, organised by Marshall Cavendish Institute. It shows how simply and visually the model method can be used to solve the problem.