Hello, I learnt Abacus 3 years back and have been teaching my son. I started teaching my son about 2 years back when he was 9. He can currently do 5 digits(addition/subtraction), 32 multiplication and 4by2 division using abacus. On Mental Math he can do 2 and 3 digit 10 rows (with 70% accuracy), 41 multiplication and 4by1 division. He practices 20 minutes atleast 5 days a week.
My questions:
What do you think about my son’s progress?
I saw a video where the girl does 10 digits 10 rows in about a minute. I feel that she is doing 2 or 3 columns at a time and remembers the numbers. Can you tell me how she is able to remember the final answer and at the same time keep calculating. I read in a forum that she is using PEG system. Can you explain what peg system is and how I can train my son?
Many schools say that they train the students to visualize. Is there any special training as such? I asked my son and imagine the abacus and calculate and he was able to do it.
Thanks for your response. I did read that discussion. But, I was not sure how to train my son on the Peg System. Do you have any info about that? Or I hope Chris reads this thread and can explain.
Generally a number is turned into either an object or a sound. In the case of an object, the objects interact with each other to create a story and you can then reconstruct the story and decode the digits.
For example, 9 = cat (because cats have 9 lives), maybe 3 is a three legged bar stool… so for 39 the bar stool falls on the cat and for 93 the cat jumps onto the barstool.
Another way is with sounds. You assign a sound to a digit and then create little words with the encode - improving proficiency at this method is done by taking on larger and larger chunks (from 2 to 3 to 4 digit sounds into words) - the human capacity is around 7 “chunks” - but you can make each chunk quite large and then employ other memory methods to make a ridiculous long string of digits with enough practice and enough set up.
It’s on sale - and if you’re wondering how to implement, I would have you consider The Great Courses #1925 called Scientific Secrets for a Powerful Memory http://www.thegreatcourses.com
What you need next is a whole lot of right brain training.
This is Shenlis blog and she has done all the hard work of research, I am constantly referring to it for reminders, info and links not to mention resources! She has a peg memory training post. Start there :biggrin: http://www.figur8.net/category/brain-training-2/
Read around while you are there. The right brain training does wonders for memory, recal, and increasing the capacity to learn. You will find information about the Wink program, which is the best available for older children and adults. Here is their website. http://www.rightbrainkids.com/
I learnt peg memory training as a teenager, it’s surprisingly easy to learn and quite easy to use with practice. I got to about 50 pegs but had no reason to continue using it so I have lostthe skill. In saying that I am sure if I had a reason to reactivate my pegs I could easily get to over 50 pegs. I had no trouble getting to 50 items using silly stories. Hope your son has fun with it!
Hi Bhoomi -
How did you learn abacus? Can you point me to some good websites? Also have you tried vedic maths? I am just curious to know if that helps.
Thanks,
Preet