Abacus Math Getting Started 1 – Introduction to Online Soroban Learning
Next we look at our mental math training program getting started 2.
The following is a transcript of the video.
Welcome to a short series of webcasts we put together to help you and your child get up and running on our early math program from rightlobemath.com as quickly as possible. Sasha and I have been building and testing this program for a number of years in the public schools, private schools, and more importantly online. Many of our users have had tremendous success with just a little dedication and consistent practice and we are sure your child will achieve the same results.
For only $29 a year, we think our math program offers a convenient and affordable solution to help families achieve a strong foundation in early math education. So please give our math program a try. We are confident you will see the same amazing results many of our students already enjoy in a short period of time. Not only will your child be mastering arithmetic, but you will witness an incredible transformation as your child builds their self confidence to reach for even higher academic goals.
So let’s dive into our first webcast where we will quickly show how to get started learning using rightlobemath.com. If by chance you are not already registered please go to rightlobemath.com and sign up today. Let’s get started.
Okay now that we have logged into rightlobemath.com we’re here on our main practice page. Here on the main practice page is where students will launch all their activities on rightlobemath.com. At the center of the screen we see there are four training modules soroban, mental calculation, math facts and tools. The program was designed for students to work across all of these modules and we’ll talk a lot more about how that is actually done in subsequent webcasts. Please come back and check those out.
For this webcast we’re going to focus mainly on the soroban module to get started. Clicking on soroban we can see that a new user will start their training on the beetle 1 level. We ask students to train a skill first and then practice. Mousing over I’m going to click on this blue training button which takes me to the main training page.
Here on the main training page I can see at the top we have a road map that shows our entire skill training program. The skill training program consists of six levels each represented by a different insect master. Each one of the levels teaches the student one new Abacus skill. By the end of skill training, our students will be able to master all addition and subtraction problems. It typically takes a student somewhere between three to four months to complete the entire skill training. Once skill training is complete users will move on to our more advanced level training where we have 10 levels of advanced soroban training including multiplication, division, decimals, and negative numbers.
To train, a user just simply watches a short instructional video. Here in the first Beetle level a user is shown a video that teaches them how to operate an abacus, how to do simple number counting on the abacus, and the basic abacus bead movements. There’s a second video on this first level that will show users how to solve problems at this level. Finally there is a step-by-step guide that will show users each of the steps that they need to take to solve a problem efficiently. Let’s just take a quick look at this.
As we see, the software is showing us how to solve the problem in the upper left. It does that by showing us how to process each number in the problem set. The software shows us which beads to move on the Abacus and it also shows the corresponding finger movements needed to add the beads to the abacus. We also like students when using this training software to follow along on their physical Abacus or they can use the digital Abacus here. Just click the appropriate beads to follow the software as they move through each of the numbers. To go to the next step they would simply click next. I’m going to go ahead and stop this so we can return to our practice page.
Now that we have done all of our training, all we need to do is click on practice. Clicking on the practice button takes us to our quizzing module software. Here all the user needs to do is click on the start button. Clicking on the start button the software will generate a unique problem at this level for the user to practice. So let’s go ahead.
After clicking start I can see that I’m presented with a problem set of 15 problems and I have a certain time frame in which to complete those problems. What we want students to work out these problems on their physical Abacus and then simply enter the the answer into the box provided. For example in this problem it first asks me to add three. I place three on my Abacus. Then I need to subtract 2, add one, and finally add two for a final answer of 4.
Entering 4 in the answer box, you can see that a red and green box appears in the upper right. Now the red box tells me that I was a little bit slow in solving my problem but the green box tells me that I entered the correct answer. So we’re going to measure both a student’s accuracy and the speed at which they solve their problems. Once they complete the problem set, they will be taken to a results page showing them a summary of what they did and whether or not they passed that particular practice session. To pass a session, you have to achieve 80% correct. In this case it would mean you’d have to get 12 out of 15 problems correct. From here a student can decide to either go to the next step and continue practicing or they can return to their practice page.
Returning to the practice page I’d like to point out at the bottom of the beetle icon we can see there the numbers 1, 2, and 3. To advance to the next level we require students to pass 3 practice quizzes. In this way we can ensure that a student has mastered the skill at that level before proceeding on to the next.
That’s basically it on how you get started training on rightlobemath.com. I hope this was helpful and you come back to watch the next webcast to see how a student can work across the other remaining training modules.
See you next time.