Theory and Benefits of Anzan(Visualization)

Working in mind

The unique point of anzan (Isao Method of Soroban Education) is to enhance students' technical skills and speed while mastering mental arithmetic ability at the same time. In this method students look at the numbers on paper and calculate with the soroban in their mind. Mastering this skill demands an immense level of concentration and visualizing power. It is just like playing piano or typing, where you look at the text and not at the actual instrument to perform what is on the paper.

With anzan, children see the numbers on paper and visualize them as beads on the soroban they have learned to build in their mind. Children first read a number and set it on their mind abacus. While visualizing and remembering it there, they have to focus on the next number, take it to their mind abacus and perform the operation (add, subtract, multiply or divide) as per the command on their paper. Then they have to hold this new intermediate answer in their mind while they read the next number and follow the necessary operation once more.

As explained above, soroban skills stimulate one's left brain hemisphere for logic and math, while mind math skills stimulates the right brain hemisphere due to visualizing the abacus, its beads, and their position. Students have to co-ordinate looking at numbers, visualizing them on an abacus, and moving mind beads according to the required calculation. Skills developed here help your child to enrich, improve, and increase his/her concentration level. Soroban education improves memory, computation, concentration, speed and confidence in math. Indirectly, it helps children in all other core and elective areas of study as well.

Children Develop: