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The Chinese abacus (Suan-Pan) was invented around 1200 A.D. It was an efficient and accurate mathematical calculation tool. Some of its principles were derived from its predecessors – the Greeks’ Salamis Tablet and the Roman Hand-Abacus. The ancient Chinese abacus worked on a 2/5-system which had two beads on the upper deck and five on the lower deck. The beads were manipulated to perform arithmetic calculations such as addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, and the finding of square roots. The Russians came up with their own version of the abacus in the 1600s, known as the Schoty. But it did not really gain popularity over the Suan Pan, which was later introduced to Japan and Korea, and in 1930, the Japanese improvised it and came up with a 1/4-system abacus known as the soroban. The soroban works on a base-10 system and eventually gained popularity over the Chinese abacus. It is used in CMA’s curriculum.
In acknowledging the many benefits of abacus training, it is important to first understand how the brain functions. The role of the brain, as we know, is to gather and process information and then trigger a response telling the body what to do. It consists of five major parts, of which the cerebrum is the largest. It is the cerebrum that is largely responsible for the things we do, see, think, feel, and so forth.
The cerebrum is made up of two main hemispheres, which are commonly referred to as the left brain and the right brain. Studies have shown that most of us have a dominant brain which we rely on extensively for day-to-day functioning. The left brain is responsible for the logical and systematic processing of information and is associated with reasoning, analysing, speech, and solving math problems. The right brain, on the other hand, is concerned with holistic functions such as figuring colours, geometrical shapes, music, and art and crafts.
Dr. Roger Sperry of the California Institute of Technology won a Nobel Prize for his work on the functions of the brain’s hemispheres.
The integral point to note is that the dual-hand abacus method (which CMA teaches) helps to develop both the left and right brains.
The 8 Phases of Mental Arithmetic Learning
“This flow is based on an average individual’s progress.”
From the time we are born, our neural network start to form.
With proper training our neural network thrives by the time we reach 6 years old, and it will continue to develop in the following years. This also the best time to target brain development.
When we reach 14 years old, our neural network deteriorates if we have not been exercising it properly. We cannot do as much at this stage to develop it, as in the previous stages.
