Abacus Mental Maths Help To Enhance Growth Of The Brain

 The abacus is derived from the Greek words abakon or abax meaning table or tablet. Primarily used now to improve the mathematical skills of kids, the abacus mental math is a very effective method to enhance the cognitive skills of kids. Since abacus-teaching centres encourage parents to send their kids from the age of 4 for abacus training, there is enhanced development of certain skills in these kids. 

While these abacus classes were extremely popular, the pandemic resulted in an absolute shutdown of all physical classes. This led to the enhanced popularity of abacus math program online. When learning online, a virtual abacus is used. This is just like the abacus frame that kids use but instead of using the thumb and index to operate it, a mouse is used to move the beads. 

Initially, when a kid enrols in an abacus course, he is taught to work with the abacus. As he progresses, the kid learns to visualise the abacus in his mind and perform mathematical calculations. This is known as mental arithmetic. Calculations for even large numbers can be done using this method. 

But there is more to the abacus mental math than the ability to do calculations without using an abacus. Children become astonishingly fast and accurate in their calculations. Some of the other ways by which mental maths benefits the child are:

• Concentration: Every kid learning abacus can concentrate on the problem at hand and drown all other background noises. Kids have to focus on the abacus and move beads using the finger technique to perform calculations. This increases their concentration and their analytical skills.

• Observation: Kids availing of the abacus math program online have to solve tough calculations by just seeing the question once. This increases their power of observation since they have to read the question accurately and solve the mathematical problem using the correct method.

• Visualisation: Kids progressing to solving mathematical problems using the virtual abacus do not get a physical tool for their calculations. They have to visualise the abacus in their minds and virtually move the beads using the finger technique. Before they say the final answer aloud, they have to visualise the abacus mentally. This helps them to enhance their imagination and their ability to visualise. 

• Memory: The abacus mental math improves memory retention. Kids have to solve mathematical problems and do mathematical calculations in their minds just by looking or listening to the question once. This activates their brain cells and hence they develop good power of retention. As kids progress through the abacus levels, they tend to develop a photographic memory.

Visual arithmetic is a fundamental part of all abacus learning courses offered irrespective of whether they are offline or related to the abacus math program online. Herein children are taught to replace the physical abacus with a visual they retain in their memory. By recalling this visual every time there is a need to solve a maths problem, kids solve problems quickly and efficiently. Kids visualise the numbers present in the mathematical question as beads on an abacus rather than as numbers.