[huevosabio]

That sounds similar to how I learned math in Montessori in Grades 1-6.

Every math concept had physical "materials" that we had to manipulate to get to the answer (e.g. for square root, you place N beads on a grid in a square form and count how many are on the side). Often, tricks to get quickly at the answer were discouraged early on to promote a proper "grasp" on what the operations entail.

[btilly]

Singapore math was inspired largely by research from Jerome Bruner on how children learn. See https://singaporemathsclub.com/concrete-pictorial-and-abstra... for more.

His thinking at least parallels Marie Montessori's. There probably is some direct influence, but I couldn't find evidence of it in a quick search.

However it does not surprise me that the approaches would work out to be similar.