Firstly, what is abacus calculation?

Abacus mental calculation is based on abacus calculation, which is trained to form an image of the abacus in the mind to extract the abacus in the mind, greatly enhancing the calculation ability and improving students' various abilities. As is well known, traditional abacus calculation has a strong enlightening effect due to the coordination of organs such as the brain, eyes, mouth, ears, hands, and limbs during operation. On this basis, abacus calculation has developed to an advanced stage, that is, when calculating, there is no need to manually dial the abacus, but to form a "brain image" in the brain, so that all calculation steps are completed in the mind, and finally the answer is obtained. The formation of this "brain image" mainly relies on the activity of the right brain, and the direct operation of the brain effectively promotes the development of right brain function, thereby promoting the overall improvement of brain function.

Secondly, does abacus mental arithmetic education have a significant intellectual development effect on children?

In 2006, the book "Abacus and Mental Education and Children's Intelligence Development - Selection of Excellent Achievements in the National Abacus and Mental Education Comparative Experimental Test" edited by the China Abacus and Mental Education Association confirmed through a large amount of detailed comparative experimental test data that abacus and mental education has a significant role in children's intelligence development, mainly manifested in the following eight aspects:

1. Improve memory. The test data shows that children who receive abacus mental arithmetic training have a memory ability that is 20-40% higher than those who do not receive it.

2. Strong thinking ability. The comparison of a large amount of data in the thinking quality test shows that in the abacus calculation experimental class, students have a higher accuracy rate in answering questions than the regular class, and their answering speed is also one-third to half faster than the regular class. In addition, regardless of the number and type of multiple solutions to a problem, or the level of development in combinatorial analysis, there are generally significant differences in grades between the abacus mental arithmetic experimental class and the regular class.

3. Good originality. The experimental class has a significant advantage in creative thinking when testing several aspects such as visual composition, numerical composition, imitation composition, and independent composition. The teaching of abacus calculation can not only increase the number of self written practical problems for primary school students, but also improve their independence in taking countermeasures in the face of difficulties and new stimuli.

4. Fast reading speed. The reading speed of students in the abacus calculation experimental class is 13.93 Chinese characters per second, while the regular class only reads 7.85 Chinese characters per second. The experimental class is 77.4% faster than the control class.

5. Improve intelligence. From the curve of intelligence change, it can be seen that the increase or intelligence value of the experimental class students is significantly higher than that of the regular class.

6. Excellent academic performance in all subjects. Primary school mathematics grades have improved significantly, with experimental class students achieving an average of at most 20 points higher than regular classes; Moreover, through the comparison of grades of primary school graduates in junior and senior high schools, it was found that children who learn abacus calculation not only account for an important proportion of outstanding students, but also are mostly the "three good students" and outstanding class and youth league cadres in the class.

7.The role of abacus calculation education in developing children's intellectual potential is not only good for ordinary children's education, but also significant for intellectually disabled children's education.

8. Learning abacus mental arithmetic can enhance one's mental abilities and maintain them for a long time, with potential for development. A follow-up survey on the later development of children learning abacus calculation shows that students who have learned abacus calculation have significantly better later development than those who have not. For example, in the first five classes (1992-1996) of the abacus calculation education experimental class at Wujianfang Primary School in Ningcheng County, Inner Mongolia, the average high school enrollment rate of students was 75.7%, while the county only had 15.6%; The average admission rate to three universities is 39.3%, compared to 15.6% in the entire county. The test data also shows that the experimental class has significantly higher academic performance and overall quality compared to the regular class, regardless of whether they have been promoted to a higher-level school (junior or senior high school). This phenomenon is not universal, nor is it a school.

Thirdly, the purpose of learning abacus mental arithmetic?

Abacus mental arithmetic education is not aimed at cultivating and training a few top mental arithmetic players, but at developing children's intellectual potential and making them smarter. The continuous mental arithmetic teaching method of the Oriental Golden Tower has excellent teaching effects for children of different age groups, such as hyperactivity, lack of concentration, and timidity. It fully demonstrates the role of mental arithmetic in developing children's right brain, improving intelligence, cultivating children's visual thinking, spatial imagination, and fast calculation .

The gradual training process is the process of developing potential and improving learning ability. Through the conversion of digital images and the participation of multiple senses during training, it effectively promotes the coordinated development of the two hemispheres of the brain, which can quickly improve children's computational ability; The coordination ability of mouth, brain, ears, hands, and eyes; Enhance children's six major abilities, including memory, self-control, spatial orientation, and attention, and promote the comprehensive improvement of children's overall quality.

Fifth, what is the most suitable age for children to learn mental arithmetic?

Children in small classes or above can learn abacus calculation. From the perspectives of physiology and psychology, children in this age group mainly rely on visual thinking, while abacus mental calculation is a fast mental calculation method that utilizes the brain's spatial imagination and ability to reproduce images, transforming the abacus and its process of moving beads from physical and physical actions into thinking and moving beads in the brain. After adolescence, the optimal period for developing children's potential will be lost.

Ms. Lian Huangcen, a well-known child education expert, inventor of "Lian's Mental Arithmetic", and principal of Dongfang Jinzita School, introduced that learning abacus is generally better at a younger age because the growth of human intellectual brain cells has reached 70% by the age of 3, and 100% by the age of 4 to 12. Therefore, the age range of 4 to 12 is the golden period for learning abacus mental arithmetic.

Sixth, can two handed bead manipulation develop the left and right brain more effectively than one handed bead manipulation?

The left and right brain of a person includes corresponding motor and functional centers. The motor center manages the movement of the left and right hands, feet, etc., while the functional centers of the left and right brain manage the thinking functions of the brain, such as the left brain overseeing abstract thinking and the right brain overseeing visual thinking.

The main focus of using two handed bead manipulation is to develop the motor centers of the left and right brains. In training the functional centers of children's left and right brains, there is no special difference between using two handed bead manipulation and single handed bead manipulation in abacus mental calculation learning.

The process of abacus calculation is for students to see or hear abstract math problems, transfer them to their left brain, and then transfer the abstract math problems to their right brain and translate them into visual abacus images. The abacus images then follow the rules of abacus calculation and mathematical operations to perform image splicing operations. The resulting abacus images are ultimately transmitted from their right brain to their left brain, where they are translated into abstract numerical symbols and expressed or written.

This calculation process itself is the result of the collaborative work of the left and right brains, which can achieve whole brain development. Parents let their children learn abacus calculation mainly to develop their children's thinking center and intelligence. As for the motor center, it can actually be achieved through daily exercise.

What are the differences between seventh, ninth, and fifth abacus mental arithmetic in children's intellectual development and mathematical learning?

Whether it is five bead or nine bead mental arithmetic, both use abacus as a carrier and aim to achieve mental arithmetic. So ultimately, the effectiveness of learning is measured by mental arithmetic, which is also a hallmark of student intellectual development and mathematical learning.

The calculation methods of nine bead mental arithmetic and five bead mental arithmetic are both based on the memory and movement of brain bead images. The advantage of using nine beads is that the original five liter system is eliminated, leaving only the decimal system and simplifying some calculations. However, due to the complexity of each digit having nine beads, the memory burden of bead images when children do calculations almost doubles. Therefore, it is difficult for children to form bead images during mental arithmetic, and the recognition of bead images is also difficult, For example, there are many beads in the image of 8 and 9, but the difference is only one bead, which is difficult to distinguish from the graphics, making it very difficult for children to calculate. So it is basically difficult for children to exceed three digit mental arithmetic using nine bead mental arithmetic.

Due to the use of beams as a memory medium and the fact that the most complex number consists of only five beads forming a bead image, the memory of bead images is very simple, so children can easily implement mental arithmetic with a light burden. Moreover, the problem of abacus calculation formulas that Jiuzhu originally intended to solve has been solved by abacus mental calculation, and it is no longer necessary to use memorizing abacus calculation formulas for solving problems. Therefore, it is more reasonable to use five abacus mental calculation to achieve mental calculation.

Eighth, mental abacus calculations start from high positions, while elementary school mathematics requires starting from low positions. Is this contradictory?

The statement that elementary school mathematics calculations start from low positions is not rigorous. The teaching content of primary school mathematics includes written calculation, mental calculation, and rapid calculation. The addition, subtraction, and multiplication in written calculations start from the low order, but division starts from the high order; The addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of mental and rapid arithmetic are all calculated from high positions. So there are various situations in the calculation order of elementary school mathematics education itself, from low to high and from high to low. If there is no conflict in elementary school mathematics itself, then abacus calculation, as a type of oral and rapid calculation, will not conflict with elementary school mathematics. But we need to explain to the students clearly what order to use in that operation to solve the problem of confusion.