Research on Soroban Education

Index

1. Skilled Abacus Users and the training of intelligence
2. Japanese ~ American Co-operative Study on the Effects on Abacus Education
3. A Guide to the Experiment on the Effects of Abacus Education
4. Pursuing Excellence Study
5. How can Abacus Training help nurture your child's intelligence?
6. Why does Abacus Brain Training use arithmetic as the subject of the training and how important is mental arithmetic?
7. Why is learning on the abacus a must while calculators is available for computing numbers in the world today?

8. The Ripple Effects and the Future Prospects of Abacus Learning. Ms. Shizuko Amaiwa Professor, Shinshu University, College of Education January 20, 2001

9. What Abacus Education Ought to Be for the Development of the Right Brain. Dr. Toshio Hayashi Doctor of Engineering Professor, Osaka Prefecture University Director, Research Institute for Advanced Science and Technology (RIAST) August 24, 2000

10. Image thinking of abacus users in higher dan (ranks) by a study on brain waves. Ms. Kimiko Kawano Researcher, Nippon Medical School, Center for Informatics and Sciences. July 14, 2000

11. The Relationship Between Brain Development and Abacus/Mental Math Memorization. CAROLYN ANYANASUAKI REI 會長
12. IDENTIFYING ABACUS VALUE Dr.James Stigler

1. Skilled Abacus Users and the training of intelligence

Mr. Lin and Mr. Haqits, professors in Osaka Education University, studied abacus users and found that abacus training can help to cultivate and to improve their intelligence. They wrote a thesis to the Journal of British Medical Science. Dr. Sinagwakane, professor of Japan Medical University, Mr. Kawano and Mr. Osisewbi also did some research and made a report to the 68th Conference of Japan Physiology Association in Kyoto.

2. Japanese ~ American Co-operative Study on the Effects on Abacus Education

Dr. Flanagan in University of Maryland and Dr.Biga, a professor in Liuqiu University cooperated to study the achievements of Japanese and American students in mathematics. The result shows that Japanese children's arithmetic scores are higher than American students are; above all, abacus learners are top in every grade.

3. A Guide to the Experiment on the Effects of Abacus Education

American Education wanted to know why American tend to reject arithmetic. They introduced abacus to the classrooms. Children like to work with the abacus in a concrete way instead of an abstract way. They gradually changed to be fond of studying arithmetic Concentration Effects Decker Avenue School in California did a research for concentration after introducing abacus to the children. The study indicated a very good result.

4. Pursuing Excellence Study

• Mathematical knowledge of half a million students from forty-one countries was tested. Of these countries, the test shows that American students performed below average in mathematics. One of the most famous studies of its kind is called Pursuing Excellence, the Third International Mathematics and Science Study. This study was conducted in 1995.
• The mathematical education provided in the United States has proved to be inferior compared to that of other countries. Specifically the Japanese and other Asian educational systems produce more educated mathematics students than the United States. American children tend to score lower on standardized testing than Asian students do.
• Many studies have been done by research groups such as the National Center for Education Statistics of the U.S. Department of Education and the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement showing the differences in teaching methods between the United States and Japan.

5. How can Abacus Training help nurture your child's intelligence?

Abacus Brain Programmes are designed to improve not only on a child’s calculating ability and his/her understanding of arithmetic, but also to increase the memory power and creativity, the concentration level and the listening skill, as well as the ability to analyze problems. On top of loving math for lifelong success, our ultimate goal is to build the child’s confidence level in their school work and life.

Abacus Training helps children quickly improve their ability to calculate as much as 2 to 10 times. According to Abacus research, children can improve their IQ score by 5 to 25%. By stimulating both the left and the right sides of the brain during the training process, experts believe that abacus and image abacus (ANZAN) training is the key to optimal learning capability.

6. Why does Abacus Brain Training use arithmetic as the subject of the training and how important is mental arithmetic?

Arithmetic is remarkably important for helping young children build up a solid academic foundation. Teachers who work with young children know that it is not easy to introduce the concept of numbers and their values. For young children to comprehend the concepts of mathematics when presented only in the abstract form will take a long process. Abstract means using concrete objects such as abacus beads to relate numeric values. Learning how to compute numbers mentally is equally important, as it will effectively tap the unexploited parts of the brain and therefore promotes the overall intelligence. The practice of mental arithmetic will sharpen the imaginative and memory power.

According to a scientific research, a child who lacks good mental formation can experience a sharp decline in mental abilities even as early as the age of 20. On the other hand, a child who receives this information by the age of 12 will continue to remain brilliant even up to the age of 70.

7. Why is learning on the abacus a must while calculators are available for computing numbers in the world today?

Although that calculator and computer have replaced human brain computing numbers, learning abacus is a must for every child because it is instrumental in developing whole brain and lifetime skills. Using abacus requires co-ordination of the main nerves of the human body such as sight,sound and finger movement which will induce growth of brain cells. The mind undergoes three main stages of development namely physical contact, logical explanation and visualization throughout the process and the abacus acts as a bridge that connects the three stages. More than 80% of the world population are right-handed and right-handed people normally have more developed left brain with less developed right brain. While the creativity side of the brain is more than thousand times than that of the left brain. Learning abacus will stimulate development of the right brain at an early age.