The Hindu : Karnataka News : Students can count on Chinese abacus

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 23, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka

Students can count on Chinese abacus

R. Chandrakanth

A method to help children use both sides of the brain has been evolved.

INSPIRING MINDS: M. Ramakrishna, director, Smart Brain (Karnataka), with a student — Photo: K. Gopinathan

BANGALORE: Can your child solve 60 tough arithmetical problems within three minutes? The task would seem daunting to even adults. But it can be done. Making it a possibility is Smart Brain India, which runs a programme that trains children in mental arithmetic using the Chinese abacus method.

The Chinese abacus is typically around 20 cm tall. It comes in various widths depending on the application. It usually has more than seven vertical rods. There are two beads on each rod in the upper deck and five beads each in the lower deck (the upper and lower decks are set apart by a horizontal beam at the centre) for both decimal and hexadecimal computation. The beads are usually round and made of hardwood, and are counted by moving them up or down towards the beam. The abacus can be reset to the starting position instantly by a quick jerk along the horizontal axis to spin all the beads away from the beam.

The Chinese abacus can be used for functions other than counting. Unlike the simple counting board used in elementary schools, efficient techniques have been developed for multiplication, division, addition, subtraction, square root and cube root operations at high speed.

Using this method and NLP (neuro-linguistic programme), Smart Brain runs a weekend brain development training programme for children between five and 14 years of age. The curriculum followed at Smart Brain is an advanced and unique system that uses a three-pronged approach while using Chinese abacus mental arithmetic.

M. Ramakrishnan, director, Smart Brain (Karnataka), explains that this method helps children have a balanced development by helping them use both sides of the brain. The left side of the brain supports survival-oriented logical decisions and the right side growth-oriented creative decisions. But most children predominantly use either the left side or the right side of the brain. It is said that individuals who use the left side of the brain more than the right side benefit from a traditional academic setting but lack the power of free and independent thinking. Those in whom the right side of the brain dominates are highly creative thinkers but are maladjusted to the current educational system.

Training in the Chinese method is through the visual-spatial, tactile and child-friendly rhyme-based communicative methods, encompassing all three "input" senses (except smell and taste).

The structured programme is for 10 levels, each level running for three months. Smart Brain has 16 centres in Bangalore and one each in Belgaum, Hoskote, Hubli and Dharwad. Details are available from Smart Brain, 11A, 21st Main, 5th Cross, J.P. Nagar 2nd Phase, Bangalore 560 078 (phone: 26493756).

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