An Effective Mental Math Tool – The Paper Abacus or Kami Soroban

This is an introduction to using a mental math tool called the Kami Soroban or Paper Soroban. The Kami Soroban will help students develop strong mental images of the abacus bead movements used to during mental calculation. As students progress through their abacus math training, they naturally develop the ability to visualize all the same bead movements in their head. The Kami Soroban is a simple tool to help accelerate the visualization process to from strong mental images. The Kami Soroban is an interim step to complete mental calculation without any aids or devices. The Kami Soroban is useful when students begin their mental calculation training.