Launch a Mental Arithmetic
Programme at your school
for FREE
Programme at your school
for FREE
The 5 BEST Schools
will receive training for FREE
will receive training for FREE
Conference: April 24, 2021 at 09:00 AM (CET)
We are looking for schools with passionate teachers who are creative, fun, energetic, and enjoy a team-oriented environment that cares about excellence in teaching and professional development. 5 best schools will receive the training for free and have an opportunity to implement the programme.
We are Abakus Center
International Mental Arithmetic school for children aged 5 to 15 years old
We offer a Mental Arithmetic programme for schools and educational centers as an extracurricular activity and as a part of the school curriculum. Our students learn Mental Arithmetic in online and offline modes around the world.
22
Countries
204
25 518
Centers
Students
What is Mental Arithmetic?
Mental Arithmetic offers a proven means to developing a child's academic abilities and creative thinking skills in a balanced way.
The programme begins by teaching each child to use an abacus, an ancient tool that allows tactile interaction with mathematics. Once the abacus has been mastered, each child learns to do calculations in their head by forming a mental image of a number on the abacus. The result is each child is able to add, subtract, multiply, and divide even very large numbers mentally.
Peer-reviewed studies with control groups have shown that the Abakus program leads to improved academic results and increased performance in foreign languages.
Schools implemeted Abakus programme
Studying the Effects of Mental Arithmetic on the intelligence of children
The University of Manchester
Research duration: 34 weeks
First published: 3 August 2008
Using a sample of 3185 children, this study investigated the effects of abacus training on intelligence, assessed using standard progressive matrices (SPM). The children were divided into two groups: one group received two hours of abacus training a week for 34 weeks, while the control group did not receive any training.
The two groups were retested at the end of the study period and, controlling for practice effects, the experimental group on average gained 7.11 IQ points, a 10.6% increase, and a statistically significant result. The children who had completed the training also performed much more quickly (+4.6%).
Authors:
Dr. Paul lrwing (University of Manchester, Manchester, UK)
Dr. Richard Lynn (University of Ulster, Coleraine, Northern Ireland, UK)
Dr. Omar Khaleefa (University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan)
Dr. Alya Hamza (University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan)
Research duration: 34 weeks
First published: 3 August 2008
Using a sample of 3185 children, this study investigated the effects of abacus training on intelligence, assessed using standard progressive matrices (SPM). The children were divided into two groups: one group received two hours of abacus training a week for 34 weeks, while the control group did not receive any training.
The two groups were retested at the end of the study period and, controlling for practice effects, the experimental group on average gained 7.11 IQ points, a 10.6% increase, and a statistically significant result. The children who had completed the training also performed much more quickly (+4.6%).
Authors:
Dr. Paul lrwing (University of Manchester, Manchester, UK)
Dr. Richard Lynn (University of Ulster, Coleraine, Northern Ireland, UK)
Dr. Omar Khaleefa (University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan)
Dr. Alya Hamza (University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan)
Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine
Experts of abacus operation demonstrate extraordinary ability in mental calculation. There is psychological evidence that abacus experts utilize a mental image of an abacus to remember and manipulate large numbers in solving problems; however, the neural correlates underlying this expertise is unknown. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we compared the neural correlates associated with three mental-operation tasks (numeral, spatial, verbal) among six experts in abacus operations and eight non-experts. In general, there was more involvement of neural correlates for visuospatial processing (e.g., right premotor and parietal areas) for abacus experts during the numeral mental-operation task. The activity of these areas and the fusiform cortex was correlated with the size of numerals used in the numeral mental-operation task. Particularly, the posterior superior parietal cortex revealed significantly enhanced activity for experts compared with controls during the numeral mental-operation task. Comparison with the other mental-operation tasks indicated that activity in the posterior superior parietal cortex was relatively specific to computation in 2-dimensional space. In conclusion, the mental calculation of abacus experts is likely associated with enhanced involvement of the neural resources for visuospatial information processing in 2-dimensional space.
Authors:
TAKASHI HANAKAWA (Human Brain Research Center, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan. Human Motor Control Section, NINDS, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA)
MANABU HONDA (Human Brain Research Center, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan. National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Okazaki, Japan. PRESTO, Japan Science and Technology Corp., Kawaguchi, Japan)
TOMOHISA OKADA (National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Okazaki, Japan. Department of Nuclear Medicine, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan)
HIDENAO FUKUYAMA (Human Brain Research Center, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan)
HIROSHI SHIBASAKI (Human Brain Research Center, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan. National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Okazaki, Japan)
Experts of abacus operation demonstrate extraordinary ability in mental calculation. There is psychological evidence that abacus experts utilize a mental image of an abacus to remember and manipulate large numbers in solving problems; however, the neural correlates underlying this expertise is unknown. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we compared the neural correlates associated with three mental-operation tasks (numeral, spatial, verbal) among six experts in abacus operations and eight non-experts. In general, there was more involvement of neural correlates for visuospatial processing (e.g., right premotor and parietal areas) for abacus experts during the numeral mental-operation task. The activity of these areas and the fusiform cortex was correlated with the size of numerals used in the numeral mental-operation task. Particularly, the posterior superior parietal cortex revealed significantly enhanced activity for experts compared with controls during the numeral mental-operation task. Comparison with the other mental-operation tasks indicated that activity in the posterior superior parietal cortex was relatively specific to computation in 2-dimensional space. In conclusion, the mental calculation of abacus experts is likely associated with enhanced involvement of the neural resources for visuospatial information processing in 2-dimensional space.
Authors:
TAKASHI HANAKAWA (Human Brain Research Center, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan. Human Motor Control Section, NINDS, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA)
MANABU HONDA (Human Brain Research Center, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan. National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Okazaki, Japan. PRESTO, Japan Science and Technology Corp., Kawaguchi, Japan)
TOMOHISA OKADA (National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Okazaki, Japan. Department of Nuclear Medicine, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan)
HIDENAO FUKUYAMA (Human Brain Research Center, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan)
HIROSHI SHIBASAKI (Human Brain Research Center, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan. National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Okazaki, Japan)
Shinshu University, Dokkyo University
This study was aimed at investigating the effects of after-school abacus learning on paper-and-pencil calculation. Two speeded tests of basic calculation, «power tests» of multi-digit addition, subtraction, open sentence problems and word problems involving addition and subtraction, and comprehension of the «trade» principle between columns were given to 110 3rd-graders, 53 of whom were learning abacus outside the school. The abacus learners (a) were much quicker in a basic calculation, (b) made more correct responses in multi-digit subtraction, and (c) more often wrote a mathematical expression and identified the missing number correctly. All these differences remained significant even when school grades in the language entered analyses as a covariate. However, when the speed of basic calculation was partialled out, differences in other tests became insignificant. No difference was observed incomprehension of the trade principle. Abacus learning seemed to have influenced paper-and-pencil calculation not through conceptual understanding, but through proficiency in shared component skills.
Authors:
SHIZUKO AMAIWA (Faculty of Education, Shinshu University, Nishi-Nagano, Nagano 380)
GIYOO HATANO (Dokkyo University, Soka, Saitanta 340)
This study was aimed at investigating the effects of after-school abacus learning on paper-and-pencil calculation. Two speeded tests of basic calculation, «power tests» of multi-digit addition, subtraction, open sentence problems and word problems involving addition and subtraction, and comprehension of the «trade» principle between columns were given to 110 3rd-graders, 53 of whom were learning abacus outside the school. The abacus learners (a) were much quicker in a basic calculation, (b) made more correct responses in multi-digit subtraction, and (c) more often wrote a mathematical expression and identified the missing number correctly. All these differences remained significant even when school grades in the language entered analyses as a covariate. However, when the speed of basic calculation was partialled out, differences in other tests became insignificant. No difference was observed incomprehension of the trade principle. Abacus learning seemed to have influenced paper-and-pencil calculation not through conceptual understanding, but through proficiency in shared component skills.
Authors:
SHIZUKO AMAIWA (Faculty of Education, Shinshu University, Nishi-Nagano, Nagano 380)
GIYOO HATANO (Dokkyo University, Soka, Saitanta 340)