Thousands of years prior to the invention of the mechanical and electronic calculator, mathematicians all over the world made use of abaci – a surprisingly helpful tool. The word ‘abacus’ derives from the Greek word ‘abax’ or ‘abakon’ meaning table or tablet, which originated from the Semitic word ‘abaq’ meaning sand. The plural of ‘abacus’ is ‘abacuses’ or ‘abaci’. And a user is called abacist.
Today’s Abacus
An abacus is divided into two portions, a “lower” portion and narrower “upper” portion separated by a dividing bar. In each of these portions there are several series’ of beads which can be moved up or down (abaci are meant to be used lying flat). The columns of beads in the bottom portion have four, while the top portion contains columns of only one. The bottom beads are all meant to represent values of 1 and the top beads represent values of 5. The individual columns, however, represent powers of ten. This all provides simple algorithmic methods of performing basic calculations.
Mental arithmetic by images of Abacus
Abacus is a time-tested tools to augment the faculties of the brain. The usage of Abacus has been refined to develop the mental capabilities of children in JAW programme. The practice proves good for training children’s observation ability and attention ability. Working with abacus demands the coordinated work of hands, eyes and brain. Series of activities such as visualization, memory, concentration, analysis, judgment and control in the brain go hand in hand to do the mental calculation with speed and accuracy.
Facts about brain
The human brain is by the most important part of the body. Essentially a muscle, the brain acts as the source of intelligence require to carry out, all the vital activities in our day to day life. The brain is actually divided into left and right hemispheres, with the left hemisphere controlling the right part and the right hemisphere controlling the left part of the body.
The left part of the brain is fundamentally responsible for linear reasoning and logical analysis. It uses the fact based knowledge gained through experience as the premises for deducing a conclusion. Left brain’s function in a day-to-day life involves carrying out short/detailed description of the various things we see or do. Also it helps in learning new things coupled with fresh concepts. Research says that most people utilize more of left brain than the right brain.
The right part of the brain is responsible for controlling the left part of the body. It can be called as the “Creative part” of the brain too as it is the source of innovation . It has the functionality to remember & recall images, tunes of songs, formulation of hypothesis and so on. As mentioned earlier, it is a relatively less utilize portion of the brain.
We at JAW, are involved in sharpening the acumen with respect to the right brain and bring out a proper end-to-end coordination between the left and the right brain. Given the fact that abacus is the tool that we use, scientific analysis do confirm that it is a very comprehensive tool to achieve the purpose. The child uses his right part of the brain to imagine the bead movement whereas the left part gets exercised due to recalling of numbers and their proper placement to get the solution. Hence, a mutual coordination among the two hemispheres gets established.
Best Learning Age for the Children
According to the analysis on the development of nerve tissues, the development and growth of the nerve tissues begins in 4 to 6 years old children at a rapid speed, and the progress will slow down when they are 12 years old and growth reaches 75%. The greatest growth of human brain is during 4 to 14 years and during this period, the frequency of the brain wave increases gradually from theta (relaxing stage) to alpha level (relax but conscious). Children in alpha level have plentiful imagination and quicker learning ability. As they grow older into their juvenile age (the beta level, the sober period), thought will become more rational and they mainly think with left brain. Therefore, as a parent to your child, in order to explore and enhance the children’s intelligence, the best learning time for your child is the age before 15.