Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Mental arithmetic - 心算

Will be withdrawing Athena out from her Speech & Drama coz' I don't find the teacher good. And I wouldn't want to go all the way to Act3 for her class, so drop it and going to replace it with something useful for her - I hope!
For those who managed to watch 小超人4 on Sunday - 24th, you may remember seeing this boy doing fast calculation. And something I found out from the school too - the girl I talked about in the previous episode, the one who can speak Japanese is also a student in the school that I'm enrolling Athena in.
Anyway, when I told hubby the decision, he said "you should have done it a long time ago." Argh! He try to act ge-kiang

Searched on more information on mental arithmetic and abacus(算盘) and realised that abacus is effective in the development of the right brain.
If you would like to know too ( can't remember if I wrote this down before) that I've read from somewhere that we should tap on children's right brain while they are still young. At 3, they still can be helped in tapping the right brain, but they're switching a little to left brain - logical thinking. By 4 or 6 it's predominantly left brain, coz' if you study properly too, at that age the children would have already started Primary school. By then it'll be difficult to tap on their right brain.

Abacus, it seems, can activate BOTH parts of the brain simultaneously.


Using the abacus also:

* Fosters a greater sense of numbers.
* Helps develop an intuitive understanding of numbers through their concrete representation.
* Fosters one's trust in the process of calculation by enabling one to observe it in action.
* Manifests the concept of decimal places and the progression of units by tens physically.
* Instantly accomplishes addition and subtraction when numbers are placed on the abacus.
* Improves understanding of compounded numbers (through the use of supplementary numbers for 5 and 10).
* Helps in developing the beneficial qualities of concentration, patience, and endurance.
* Fosters one's confidence in calculation.
* Uses a left to right calculation method, which makes quick estimation and rounding off possible.
* Works on the decimal rather than fractional system, an easy progression to digital systems.
* Develops mental calculation, which is the ultimate resource.
* Develops the right brain tremendously.
* Leads to greater mental capacity.
* Expresses large numbers simply and easily.
* Provides a sense of achievement as one's proficiency improves.


Abacus education enhances progress in various abilities. Scientific analyses have demonstrated the effectiveness of abacus training in improving the following six abilities:

* Ability to concentrate (Concentration)
* Ability to visualize and to be inspired (Inspiration)
* Ability to memorize (Memorization)
* Ability to observe attentively (Insight)
* Ability to process information (Information processing)
* Ability to listen and read quickly (Speed reading and listening)

Actually come to think of it, I think that's why my uncle in Muar and cousins seems to be able to calculate fast. Haha! You know the old folks use abacus - but it was those heavy big ones that can kill you in one throw. I thought I saw my dad had that before?? Where is it?
Geez... I can't believe they skip my generation in this abacus thingy.
Uncle's generation - know abacus
My generation - know what is Casio calculator, the one that can calculate cosine and whatever nots
My children - back to abacus, but mini ones.

Conclusion : No Shichida for Athena but now still 有得救.
I really hope it will help that playful Athena. At least she must prove to me that she's smart & a genius lah! I watched on those kids and turn to look at Athena, and start wondering what she's good at?!?!

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