Abstract Thinking

Hello everyone, I have been trying to improve my basic maths skills recently, and, quite independently (I was never really educationally assessed for my difficulties in school, other than general tests), I have come to realise that I have problems with abstract thinking, especially in maths. When trying to do basic mental arithmetic in my head I get hopelessly lost with anything over double-digit numbers, and yet, using a Chinese abacus for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, I can work out things that I could never work out in my head. Can anyone else relate to this? I only wish that the asian forms of abacus were more widely available when I was a child, because I think I could have developed far more numeracy coping strategies at a young age than I was able to.

Thanks for any and all posts in advance.

Parents
  • Hi Paddy,

    I saw a good programme on Tv about  chinese education versus UK education recently and the end result was they are better at maths than we are. Or at least that was the editors assessment.

    The fear facter in education is important I think. My maths teacher terrified us all by his aggressive nature  and dictatorial style but at the end of the term he relaxed and taught us some useful tricks of the trade. We all left admiring him for what he had taught us.

    Kids need to learn ........... and not many of us do that voluntarily. I did'nt. Did you?

    Take care Laddie.

Reply
  • Hi Paddy,

    I saw a good programme on Tv about  chinese education versus UK education recently and the end result was they are better at maths than we are. Or at least that was the editors assessment.

    The fear facter in education is important I think. My maths teacher terrified us all by his aggressive nature  and dictatorial style but at the end of the term he relaxed and taught us some useful tricks of the trade. We all left admiring him for what he had taught us.

    Kids need to learn ........... and not many of us do that voluntarily. I did'nt. Did you?

    Take care Laddie.

Children
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