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Yesterday at the Goodwill I bought an abacus in the kid's toy section. I always wanted to learn to use one, and I had one for my own kids and never learned how to use it. So last night I started working on it with a youtube video, and it's neat, and I can't wait to start working with it with my granddaughters, who are 7 and 4. Has anybody got any tips on how to learn/teach this thing. I think it could be a really cool math manipulative for them in terms of thinking in bases.
This should be right up LDahl’s alley. Didn’t he work daily with those before retiring?Quote:
Originally Posted by Tybee
(just kidding you, Ldahl.)
See if any of the Montessori or Waldorf schools have YouTube or even online instructions. With all of the home schooling going on in the pandemic, someone must have written materials for parents.
Thanks, that's a great idea!Quote:
Originally Posted by mschrisgo2
Somewhere I read that some schools teach the abacus to help students better understand mathematical principles and the kids get really good with them.
I just showed my granddaughter how it worked and she really enjoyed it. She worked with it the whole 2 hours I was there and did addition and subtraction, and learned more about 1,s, 10's, 100's, and 1000's--the bead rows go up that way, up to a billion on the top row. We're on to multiplication next visit.
Sounds like you had a good visit and bonding time with your gd!
Slide rules are useful in teaching estimation and critical thinking skills.
I was the last class in high school physics to use slide rules. After my year, calculators were allowed. I am pretty good at rough guesses on numbers, and getting the order of magnitude correct. Its a useful skill.Quote:
Slide rules are useful in teaching estimation and critical thinking skills.
Quick question. My late DH had two slide rules as he was taught how to use them. I keep looking at them trying figure if anyone could or would use them today. Any suggestions would be welcome.
Meanwhile back to the OP.