CMA Math - Discussion

[Mamo]

Mine is at Bishan. My DS likes the teachers there, very patience with the kids.

[Regine Lau]

Hi parents,


Any comments from Yishun Branch? I intend to register my gal with that branch.

[abacus_trainer]

Regarding diff between cma abacus and 3G abacus…


There 3 generation of abacus. 1st gen is invented by china, 2 beads on top, 5 beads below. The 2nd gen (soroban) is invented by the Japanese, 1 bead on top, 4 beads below. The last one is the 3G type, 9 beads in a column.

Cma uses the 2nd gen abacus, it has 34 sets of formula. 3G abacus has 18 sets. 3G require a shorter time to pickup due to lesser formula to learn. If it’s easier to learn then why it did not over take the 2nd gen abacus which is still more widely use in Taiwan, Japan? Parents who have seen both type of abacus would know the 3G abacus is much bigger than the soroban. When the child do mental sum, he needs to visualize the abacus beads to do the calculation. Imagine doing it on a smaller 5 beads abacus vs a 9 beads abacus. It’s harder to do visualize a bigger abacus and slower too. Imagine 999 on the soroban and 999 on the 3G.

Parents with kids in cma, imagine your child doing these sums. 2+6, 1+7, it’s much easier on the soroban, just pinch a 6 or 7 together, compare to adding a whole long string of beads on the 3G. It’s harder for the child to count 6 or 7 on th 3G. The reason why 3G has less formula because it doesn’t have the "5" bead on top, so it does not have the brothers and neighbor formula. The Japanese must have put in "5" bead for a reason.

If you are thinking to enroll your child to 3G abacus class just to learn some basic calculation and not because you want him to calculate faster or calculate more complex sums. Using the 9 beads on 3G is the same as using fingers. Just train him to use his fingers.

[smurf]

So u are saying CMA method is better?? Sorry, I dun understand, do u mind elaborating a bit more? Thanks!!

[coolit]

Anyone has comments on the AMK CMA branch? Helping my friend to ask.

[abacus_trainer]

Hi smurf,


Can’t say which is better. If 3G didn’t have its advantage, mdm chee wouldn’t have brought in the 3G method. If soroban is no good, cma would have close shop long ago and it would not be the most widely used version of abacus around the world.

In my view, It depends on yr purpose of sending yr child to abacus class. If just for simple calculation, to understand the concept of +,-. 3G is sufficient. For more complex sum, faster mental calculation, soroban is still better. Learning abacus is not only for the child to learn to count but also to let them explore more usage of their left and right brain. When a child do abacus with both hands, he is not only practicing his motor skill but also his left and right hand coordination. This is especially important for young children when their brain is still developing. When the child do mental sums, he is learning to visualize the abacus beads, holding the image in his brain and doing calculation. A active brain means better memory, faster in thinking, more efficient in learning.

Recently I have come across a k1 (next year k2) child who still don’t understand the concept of +,-. So she still don’t even know simple +,- sums. We can’t just leave all the learning, teaching to the school. Really have to be more kiasu to prepare our children inorder not to be left behind in class.

Anyway, I am a Cma trainer and I support our method. Not trying to make a sales speech here.

[bigsnoopy]

Is the 3G method using both hands?

[smurf]

Thanks abacus trainer for the elaboration.:)


i read somewhere that learning abacus is already training both left and right brain (regrdless of 2 hands method, etc). so not sure if that applies to 3G as well.

recently, i read an article, and it mentioned something about learning soroban abacus. it says that people who learn abacus does not know numbers. because whatever numbers the person see, he immediately use (mentally or not) abacus to calculate out the answer. simply out, he is the caculator.

[bigsnoopy]

Really? This is something new… Must research more on this…


@ abacus trainer. . So when or rather at which grade should the kid stop lesson?

[smurf]

such example of why people who learn abacus does not know numbers:


http://www.ee.ryerson.ca:8080/~elf/abacus/feynman.html