Abacus is an ancient device that has intrigued many educationists and scientists. The reason behind it is its legacy that spans back almost 3000 years and the simplicity it presented to calculate the complex numerical needs of that era. The extraordinary speed and accuracy that an Abacus user shows became a subject of research for the scientists of the 20th century.
Research on Abacus
Studies have shown that using abacus as a mental calculation method is effective in the development of the right brain. Initially, this idea was only a hypothesis and not proven, but after thorough research, scientists have concluded that abacus maths develops a child’s mind holistically. The recent advancement of high-technology and improved equipment has helped provide tangible research and support data to the above hypothesis. We can give the credit of studying the effects of Abacus training on the human brain to these 3 scholars and scientists, namely Dr. Toshio Hayashi, Prof. Shizuko Amaiwa, and Ms. Kimiko Kawano.
Dr. Toshio Hayashi, Professor, Osaka Prefecture University, Director, Research Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, Suggests that if children grow to enjoy learning the abacus and move the beads on the abacus with fun, they will receive an advantage from this experience.
Associate professor of the University of Chicago, Dr. James Stigler, wrote his thesis about abacus. He took 50 children from a non-abacus institute with an average IQ against the other 50 children from an abacus institute in his study. He took the memory tests of both groups on the visual memory scale. The results showed that Abacus learners had 200% better memory than non-abacus learners.
We have customized our abacus course to promote complete brain development. It creates an environment of playing a game without making the child realize that they are actually solving complex abacus maths problems.