The research project on Cultivating Students' Core Competencies Through Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Teaching was officially approved as a key project for the 13th Five-Year Plan of Education Science in Changchun City in November 2017. The project started in March 2018 and ended in August 2020. As required by the meeting, I am representing the research group to report the research results to you.

I. Background

At that time, Changchun had been conducting research on abacus and mental arithmetic education for more than 30 years. During the 12th Five-Year Plan period, the Finance Bureau solidly promoted the popularization of abacus and mental arithmetic education, forming an abacus and mental arithmetic education system with Changchun characteristics. In order to better promote abacus and mental arithmetic education, the Zhusuan Association of Changchun has summarized the achievements of abacus and mental arithmetic education practice during the 12th Five-Year Plan period, further exploring the organic integration of abacus and mathematical teaching, and its important role in cultivating students' numerical sense, cognitive ability improvement, and core literacy training. It proposes to continue to conduct in-depth research on the experimental topic of "Cultivating Students' Core Competencies Through Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Teaching " during the 13th Five-Year Plan period, so as to promote the healthy development of abacus and mental arithmetic education under the guidance of scientific norms.

II. Research Objectives

i. To confirm that abacus and mental arithmetic teaching can improve students' abilities in calculation, observation, attention, thinking, and memory, cultivate and develop students' six core competencies: humanistic background, scientific spirit, ability to learn, healthy living, responsibility, and practical innovation.

ii. Explore and innovate ways and methods of teaching abacus and mental arithmetic, form a distinctive textbook system, teaching mode, and teacher-student evaluation system, etc., and promote the popularization and development of abacus and mental arithmetic education in Changchun.

iii. Through the effective integration of abacus and mathematics teaching, we aim to protect, inherit, and promote abacus as a traditional cultural treasure and intangible cultural heritage of humanity.

III. Research Content

i. Develop fun abacus and mental arithmetic school-based textbooks

Based on the relevant content of primary school mathematics curriculum standards, develop a set of school-based teaching materials for abacus and mental arithmetic that run through game scenarios and have strong interest, as well as teaching courseware driven by animation, to promote the development of students' core competencies.

ii. Explore the teaching mode of information-based abacus and mental arithmetic

The "Changchun Internet+Abacus-based Mental Arithmetic integrated service platform" was launched, and a special column for abacus-based mental arithmetic education and teaching was opened. The online public class demonstration live broadcast and teaching observation activities were regularly carried out.

iii. Conduct experimental research on abacus-based mental arithmetic

Conduct experimental tracking on the abacus-based mental arithmetic experimental class and the control class, and compare and analyze the learning ability and autonomous, continuous learning attitude of students in the two classes.

IV. Research Methodology

Firstly, adopt the action research method. Conduct follow-up surveys on students from 11 experimental schools to find effective ways to develop their core competencies. Secondly, using literature research method and drawing on existing research results, lay a theoretical foundation for subsequent research. Again, using the experimental comparison method, conduct a horizontal comparison between the regular class and the experimental class. Finally, using the method of summarizing experience, based on teaching practice and research, accumulate materials and explore effective measures.

V. Implementation

The implementation of this project is mainly divided into three stages: the first stage is the preparation stage (August 2017 to December 2017), in which one expert group and four project teams, including 28 project team members, are established to develop a research plan. The second stage is the implementation phase (January 2018 to December 2019), during which experts and scholars from the Chinese Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Association, the Chinese Academy of Fiscal Sciences, Beijing Normal University, and the Zhusuan Association of Heilongjiang Province were invited several times to evaluate and guide the project. Special meetings for research projects were held, and more than 70 teachers were organized to participate in sub-project research. Six experimental schools and 29 integrated teaching experimental classes were identified, and 1-3 full-time teachers and 10-20 part-time teachers were assigned; Invite expert groups to regularly track, guide, and evaluate six experimental schools; Collaborate with municipal and district teaching and research departments to develop teaching standards for abacus and mental arithmetic in Changchun; Conduct centralized training for experimental teachers; Organize and participate in national and provincial abacus and mental arithmetic competitions. The third stage is the completion stage (January 2020 to July 2020), which involves organizing research materials, collecting research results from 11 experimental schools' sub projects, and writing research reports.

VI. Research Results

i.  For Teachers

Firstly, integration of teaching mode of abacus and mental arithmetic and primary school mathematics were explored.

Determine the integration point between abacus and mental arithmetic teaching method and primary school mathematics teaching method, and form a teaching method that integrates abacus and mental arithmetic and mathematics in Changchun area.

Secondly, integrated school-based textbooks for abacus and mental arithmetic and primary school mathematics were developed.

Explore the integration points between abacus and mental arithmetic teaching content and mathematics textbooks, reconstruct the teaching content system, and develop a school-based abacus and mental arithmetic textbook for the Changchun area.

Thirdly, enhance the research ability and professional level of experimental teachers.

Organize all experimental teachers to participate in several teacher training sessions, among which 8 experimental teachers have been awarded the honorary title of National Excellent Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Coach. We have initially cultivated a team of first tier backbone teachers who can undertake subsequent training work.

ii. For Students

The first is the development of students' core competencies.

According to the survey results, students in the abacus and mental arithmetic experimental class have fast calculation speed, high accuracy, and significantly higher academic performance than students in the regular class. The average score difference in each subject ranges from 5-10 points, showing a chain effect of "excellent in one subject, benefiting in multiple subjects". Students' intellectual factors such as attention, memory, and thinking ability have also been improved, while also promoting the improvement of non-intellectual factors such as good study habits, self-confidence, and competitiveness.

The second is to participate in various competitions and achieve excellent results.

During the period of 2018-2020, our city's representative team achieved excellent results in multiple competitions, including winning 5 first prizes and 1 second prize in the overall team competition; 3 consolation prize, 4 first prize, 9 second prize and 4 special prize in individual all-around awards., and second prize for the contestant group and student group twice; Especially in the 7th Competition of Abacus and Mental Arithmetic of WAAMA, our city's representative team won the first prize in the preschool group team and achieved excellent results of third place in the world in total score.

VII. The Effectiveness and Self-evaluation

This research confirms the significant impact and key role of abacus and mental arithmetic teaching on students' development of core competencies. This project has been carried out for three years and has achieved good results. At present, there are 29 abacus and mental arithmetic base schools, with an increase of more than 10 compared to 2017. The results achieved by the contestants in the competition have made new leaps. This year, the Zhusuan Association of Changchun participated in the 32nd Cross-Strait Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Communication Competition, with over 10000 contestants, which got an increase of 60% compared to the previous year. 2094 contestants won the Excellent Player Award and 105 coaches won the Excellent Coach Award. On July 4th, in the 33rd Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Competition in Jilin Province, our city's contestants won the special prize (first place in the group) for student group C and preschool group, and for the other six groups we all won the first prize. In the scale of time, we can clearly see through accurate and increasing data that the impact of abacus and mental arithmetic on students' intellectual inspiration and core literacy is real and profound. In the future, the Zhusuan Association of Changchun will continue to adhere to a rigorous and scientific attitude, with a spirit of practical work, to do a good job in research projects, and make unremitting efforts to develop students' core literacy, improve teachers' scientific research quality, form school education characteristics, and inherit traditional Chinese culture.

(This is speech by Mr. Cong Zhongfei at the Academic Exchange Meeting for Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Teachers of WAAMA on July 16th, 2024 in Changchun, Jilin, China.)