Research And Development Foundation
Abacus is a wonderful instrument. It is one of many counting devices invented to help count numbers. It was earlier a counting board. This counting board was a mere wooden device with a frame that holds rods and freely-sliding beads mounted on them. A traditional abacus is defined as a counting frame used by numerous civilizations throughout history. The earliest known documentation of this is a Chinese version, which dates all the way back to the 2nd century BC.
From the earlier counting device to Soroban and Zhuzuan, the Abacus has taken many improvements in its form. The evolution has taken long years. Although an ancient invention, many people continue to use the abacus today, as it has been observed that regular use of this instrument has many mental benefits including an increased development on the right and left side of the brain.
Indian inventor, Mr. N. Basheer Ahamed, Managing Director and CEO, Indian Abacus Private Limited. Spotted a few flaws in this traditional contraption. Although he thought that it was an effective tool and beneficial in many ways, he had a unique idea of tweaking this old invention by making it digital. Transforming an ancient gadget with highly contemporary updates makes it more modern and therefore much more relevant to today's generation.
A basic abacus consists of two rows of beads arranged in a variable number of columns. Once you become more familiar with the function of the abacus, you can assign different values to perform more complex numerical operations. Mr. Basheer Ahamed observed that the problem with this system is that because the beads are all one color, the children are not able to gain an adequate mental picture long enough to assign to the value of each number. The abacus beads would immediately slide back into place, thus erasing the visual pattern repeatedly.
In his digital version of an abacus, he has cleverly designed chunky hexagon shaped switches rather than beads which are arranged similarly to the ancient frame. Instead of sliding the beads up and down, the user has to flick a switch, which displays specific colors - either red or/and green. The student while operating Indian Abacus moves the Lower and the upper sliders to unhide and hide the color images which represent values. The lower sliders when moved towards the bar unhide and display Green color images and similarly the upper sliders when moved towards the bar unhide and display Red color images. Thus with the display of color images the memory registry & later visualization in Indian Abacus is many times better - stronger and faster - when compared to the generic Abacus. Since Visualization is the key factor for better visual memory, Indian Abacus is much superior to its predecessor. With this essential updated tweak, the designs on the board can be visible for as long as the user wants, and therefore the user starts to subconsciously associate different images to different values of numbers, making the process much more comfortable and increasing the creative development of the right side of the brain simultaneously.
Another efficient update the inventor included in his design was to have the digital abacus made more technological, with the option of plugging the instrument into your laptop. By doing this, the user can record their scores and monitor their progress visually and even upload them online to compete with their friends.
This invention is unique and has created and occupied a place of its own. This latest in the series of the abacus is the product of his matured experience in the field of Abacus education and the device for more than 13 years. This unique product is also the fruit of his tireless efforts to make improvements in the present earlier model of the Abacus available in the market even today. The uniqueness of the latest device is out of the research made all these years not only to upgrade and develop the device but to improve the learning capacity of the children who handle the instrument.
With a broader vision that this research undertaken to improve and develop the device should not merely culminate in the new product with its unique features alone, under the aegis of Indian Abacus Pvt. Ltd., a Foundation, under the name and style "Indian Abacus Research and Development Foundation" (IARDF) is to be floated.
The Foundation would concentrate on further integrating the device with the present day requirements, to further research into various methodologies to augment the learning capacities of the children, to coordinate with the Universities, Academicians, and Medical Fraternities who conduct / want to do further research in the subject, to assist needy children to acquire Abacus training skill , to perform promotional activities to further the cause of Abacus Training and to conduct research and developmental work on an ongoing basis in the field of Abacus Education , its device , Programme and Products.
Research And Development
Indian Abacus Company with its background in the field of Abacus education has been continuously working to do research in the field and develop products and the supporting-accessories to aid the program benefits the children better and better. Abacus as a tool has had a long history of existence. It metamorphosed itself over hundreds of years from the most primitive stage to the stage it had attained the form that we see it today. Right from the day Mr. Basheer Ahamed CEO., Indian Abacus Private Limited., announced before the large audience of Franchisees, Course Instructors and the parents about the company’s initiative to establish Research Foundation in the year 2004, the task started and there has been a steady and continuous flow of efforts going into the Research and Development activities in the field of Abacus as a product impacting to enhance the brain skills in children.
The early stage when Abacus was considered to be only a tool to calculate has changed, and in the last few decades, the amount of research that has gone into the subject of Abacus usage for calculations and the corresponding impact of it in the development of brain skills is enormous. Abacus today is a tool more for the development of brain skills, and it also has a strong appeal through the speed & accuracy in mental arithmetic calculations to excite the people more. There are several Research papers in the world web space today which has been the result of extensive study and research-based findings of the experts and the scientists in the field.
Mr. BasheerAhamed, the CEO of Indian Abacus Company spearheading the research and development initiative in the last decade focused on the possibilities to enhance the qualitative features of the Abacus as a tool, so that the children learning the brain skills could attain much stronger skills with the least of stress. Indian Abacus both the regular and the Digital versions became the products that emerged from the Research & Development initiative of the CEO. He worked several long hours in the last few years to develop Indian Abacus tools, which not only enhance easy & exciting learning possibilities but also with least of stress.
The tool, Indian Abacus-Digital, makes the student access the website to learn Abacus based computation online, which opens up new vistas for the Ancient tool – Abacus to earn its rightful place in computer-age learning. The Anywhere & Anytime learning possibility also opened up with the birth of Indian Abacus tools. The Abacus skills today can reach every child in the world and Online learning, practicing and assessment thus opens up the door for the Abacus to be relevant for the computer age. The Tutors of Indian Abacus program also enjoys the efficacy of the upgraded versions of the tools and their coaching quality thus enters the next level.
The R & D of the company would continue its efforts in the years to come to enhance the relevance and efficacy of Indian Abacus in the children’s education in future.