Mental arithmetic program for primary schools and kindergartens

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)

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)

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)