How to eliminate maths phobia, by expert

Chief Executive Officer of an educational research company, Educraft Nigeria Limited, Mr. Napoleon Omiunu, has called on education managers across the country to incorporate the use of Abacus Mathematics and Brain Gym classes in their teaching and learning exercise, as it has the capacity to eliminate the phobia associated with Mathematics and calculation of big numbers.

Omiunu who spoke at the Redeemers International Schools (RIS), Lagos, children’s day event, said if this is rightly integrated into the learning format of schools at early stage, it will completely eradicate the fear, which oftentimes result in total failure or low scores in the subject.

He said Abacus optimises and integrates the functions of the left and right brain during the early years.

“Abacus is a calculating device that can help children beat the challenges of calculating and working with big numbers. Abacus has penciled down the truth that children are scared of big numbers.

So what it does is to break these big numbers to figures and put them in value placements.

“With these value placements, it enables the children to do calculation in a way that saves time since they now have to work with basic tens units of hundreds and thousands number placements.

Abacus is designed for children between the ages of five to 12 years, because that is the period when the child’s mind and brain forms.

At that age, the use of Abacus stimulates the nerves in the fingers and sends messages through the neurons.”

Urging schools and parents to invest in materials that will provide academic support to their children, the abacus specialist recommended the use of SIP Academy and brain gym type, which according to him, is the best type.

“Our own abacus is called SIP Academy- SIP Abacus and Brain Gym. It has one of the best and more robust Abacus content because it has different kinds of Abacus such as speed writing, brain gym which encompasses the type of our training that conditions a child’s mind and make the child ready to learn and assimilate at optimum rate. “