IJIET
Vol. 2, No. 1, January 2018
56
Doing multiplication using the abacus is shorter compared to the
conventional way, especially with multi-digit factors. To find the product of two
two-digit numbers using abacus, students need only two steps with an assumption
that they can do mental abacus already in multiplying two- and one-digit numbers.
For example, for the question 53 x 45, first, students should choose the correct
pole (i.e. the thousands pole) and use mental abacus to place 212 (i.e. the first
product, from 53 x 4). The second step, which is also the last, is to add the next
product 265 (i.e. obtained using mental abacus).
For the conventional way,
students would have to do at least four steps wherein they are multiplying four
numbers.
Doing multiplication using the abacus can help students move faster than
others who use the conventional way. It is
one major factor that makes
multiplication for the experimental group faster than the control group. Moreover,
more practice on using the abacus and mental abacus for multiplying two- by one-
digit numbers is a major contributor to the speed in doing multi-digit
multiplication.
In some conversations
during the abacus training, the researchers
spontaneously asked some students regarding their interest about abacus. Most of
them said that they enjoy studying about the abacus because it is not extremely
difficult (i.e. once all
the rules have been mastered, one can do all the basic
mathematics operations, starting from the mastery of addition as the key).
Moreover, the students preferred to learn using the abacus (rather than the paper-
and-pen method taught in school) because using the
abacus is just like playing
with beads and the students never felt bored.
Additionally, the students did not feel compelled to join abacus training.
This was supported by Hayashi (2000), who stated that abacus training would be
useless if children are forced to do it; otherwise, if children want to learn about the
abacus and do the practice (i.e. moving the beads, seeing and reading the value of
the beads) as fun, they will tend to enjoy learning more and get more profit from
their experience.
However, some students said that the amount of homework from school and
also from the abacus course sometimes made them feel too tired to finish all the
asas.
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