[Reported by Liu Qinying of Chinese Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Association] On April 9-10, 2019, the Fourth Research Group of the Chinese Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Association (hereinafter referred to as “CAMAA”) went to Shanxi Jinzhong Teachers College and the National Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Education and Teaching Experimental Zone (hereinafter referred to as Lingshi Experimental Zone) in Lingshi County, Jinzhong City, Shanxi Province for field study. According to the needs of the work, the research group specially invited relevant personnel from the Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Associations of Yunnan Province and Dehong Prefecture and Dehong Teachers College to participate in the field study.
On the morning of the April 9, Wen Zhifang (Director of Chinese Academy of Fiscal Sciences Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Research Center and Deputy Secretary-General of CAMAA), Dr. Liu Qinying (the researcher of Chinese Academy of Fiscal Sciences Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Research Center and Deputy Secretary-General of CAMAA), Dr. Niu Teng (postdoctoral fellow of CAMAA), He Lin (Deputy Secretary-General of Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Association of Yunnan Province), Zhang Ping (Vice Chairman of Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Association of Dehong Prefecture), He Jiali (the professor of the Mathematics Department of Yunnan Dehong Teachers College) and other researchers conducted a field study on the achievements of Jinzhong Teachers College in abacus and mental arithmetic education over the past five years, in the company of Shi Shixing (Deputy Secretary-General of Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Association of Shanxi Province), Li Mao (Secretary-General of Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Association of Jinzhong City) and Wang Xinyu (Section Chief of the Accounting Department of Jinzhong Municipal Finance Bureau).
The research group first came to the No.4 Teaching Building of Jinzhong Teachers College to observe the abacus and mental arithmetic teaching in class 163 (2) of preschool education. The teaching content of this session was “replacing five bottom beads with one upper bead”, which was taught by teacher Geng Lifang. She adopted the teaching mode of “meticulous explanation and abundant practices”, and the teaching process was standardized and orderly. The students listened attentively and practiced carefully, the classroom atmosphere was animated, and the teaching effect was good.
After the observation class, a report meeting on the education and teaching of abacus and mental arithmetic as well as the symposium on inheriting abacus and mental arithmetic culture and promoting abacus and mental arithmetic education was held in the conference room of the Administration Building of Jinzhong Teachers College. Zhang Runxi, President of Jinzhong Teachers College, delivered a welcome speech. He said that against the backdrop of Shanxi Province’s discussion on “reform and innovation, striving for success”, the visit by the Fourth Research Group of CAMAA was of great significance to the cultivation of abacus teachers, as well as an encouragement and recognition of the college’s efforts in this regard. Abacus and Mental Arithmetic is an important topic in the college’s teaching reform, and has received several guidance from CAMAA and the Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Association of Shanxi Province on many occasions. Mr. Zhang also express the hope that CAMAA would provide more guidance on how to make improvements and seek future development in this regard.
Next, Wang Yue’ai, Head of the Department of Mathematical Sciences of Jinzhong Teachers College, gave a report on the education and teaching of abacus and mental arithmetic titled “Carrying Forward Abacus Culture and Serving the Development of Education”. Ms. Wang said that the college had actively explored ways and means to add abacus and mental arithmetic teaching to the original teaching and training system, adhering to the guiding ideology of “carrying forward abacus culture, developing characteristic courses, serving the development of education and broadening the channels of employment for students”, so as to explore new ways to seek further development of the college. From four aspects: the construction of teaching staff, the revision of the training plan for mathematics education professionals, the development of courses, and the development of teaching activities, she narrated in detail the education and teaching of abacus and mental arithmetic in Jinzhong Teachers College over the past five years. She also explained the initial achievements in teaching and scientific research, the gradual improvement of teachers’ professional level, the opening up of new paths for serving the society and the employment of students. Moreover, she put forward some points of confusion and thoughts on the future development of the college’s abacus and mental arithmetic work. Three points of confusion include: First, in terms of connotation construction, there lacks a learning and communication platform for teachers’ professional growth, and their professional development is far from enough. Second, in terms of service education, there is no abacus and mental arithmetic course in the curriculum system of primary schools and kindergartens so far, and the understanding of abacus and mental arithmetic remains diversified; the path of carrying forward abacus and mental arithmetic is narrow, and the employment channels for the trained students are very limited, which also causes confusion in setting up abacus and mental arithmetic courses in schools. Third, in terms of teacher training, the scope of the development of abacus and mental arithmetic in our school is not enough at present; it is hoped that CAMAA will support the college in establishing an abacus and mental arithmetic teacher training base to train abacus and mental arithmetic teachers for the society and lay the foundation for the wider inheritance of abacus and mental arithmetic culture.
After listening to the work reports, Deputy Secretary-General Wen Zhifang introduced the relevant information of this field study, and expressed his own views on the college’s points of confusion. Wen Zhifang pointed out that Jinzhong Teachers College is a representative institution of abacus and mental arithmetic work in Shanxi Province, and that the college had done a lot of pioneering work to train abacus and mental arithmetic teachers and was worthy of support from CAMAA. Mr. Wen also said that by inviting colleagues from the Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Associations of Yunnan Province and Dehong Teachers College to participate in the field study, it aimed to promote exchanges and cooperation among relevant teachers colleges and to prepare for the establishment of a more targeted abacus and mental arithmetic exchange platform on a broader scale, which coincided with the Jinzhong Teachers College’s needs. With regard to the need for in-depth development, we should study this issue thoroughly, look at and support the teacher training work with a higher pattern and a wider perspective, and study and formulate relevant measures to encourage and support normal colleges in training abacus and mental arithmetic teachers.
At the meeting, Deputy Secretary-General Liu Qinying mainly put forward guiding opinions from three aspects: the different thinking modes between the East and the West, the role of abacus and mental arithmetic in the computer age, and the problems identified in the observation class. Vice Chairman Zhang Ping introduced the curriculum of abacus and mental arithmetic for relevant majors in Dehong Teachers College, and as well as the efforts to support the training of abacus and mental arithmetic teachers in neighboring countries along the Belt and Road route. Hou Lushi, a representative of the school graduates and Head of Jinzhong Campus of Zhongwang Shenmo Training School, reported on the situation of teaching, training and teacher recruitment, and thanked the Mathematics Department of Jinzhong Teachers College (her alma mater) for training high-quality abacus and mental arithmetic teachers.
In the final session, all the research group members visited the Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Teaching and Research Section of Jinzhong Teachers College, and toured the campus in the company of relevant school leaders.
On the morning of April 10, accompanied by the relevant leaders of Lingshi County Finance Bureau and Education Bureau, the research group came to Lingshi Experimental Zone for field study. First, they watched the second grade abacus and mental arithmetic math open class in Lingshi No.4 Primary School, where teacher Cao Bin taught “understanding of numbers smaller than one thousand”. Mr. Cao organically combined abacus and mental arithmetic with second-grade mathematics knowledge, fully applied and brought into play the idea and advantages of abacus place value system in reading and writing numbers, thus improving classroom teaching efficiency and achieving better teaching results. Next, the research group conducted a abacus and mental arithmetic eight-level appraisal standard test on the students attending the class, and sent out corresponding questionnaires to the person in charge of the experimental zone, the teachers of the experimental school and kindergarten, and the students, respectively.
Then, more than 30 people, including members of the CAMAA Research Group, the representatives of the Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Associations of Jinzhong City and Shanxi Province, the representatives of Lingshi County Finance Bureau and Education Bureau, as well as the school leaders and teachers’ representatives of the experimental zone, held a symposium in the conference room of the office building of Lingshi No. 4 Primary School. Mu Ronghui, Deputy Director of Lingshi County Finance Bureau, presided over the meeting.
At the symposium, Yan Aiqing, Director of Lingshi No.4 Primary School, reported on the education and teaching of abacus and mental arithmetic in the school over the past years. Her report includes six aspects: seizing opportunities to solve difficulties and creating a new teaching pattern featuring abacus and mental arithmetic; leaders and parents’ support to ensure the smooth progress of abacus and mental arithmetic teaching; strong guarantee for the normal development of abacus and mental arithmetic teaching; doing a good job in providing abacus and mental arithmetic education in kindergartens and primary schools, standardizing the curriculum status, and developing the school’s curriculum, which is a strong guarantee for normalized abacus and mental arithmetic education; making phased achievements of research on abacus and mental arithmetic, encouraging the school to blaze a special path of inheritance and innovation; broadening the width of thinking, keeping pace with the times, and unswervingly following the characteristic road of abacus and mental arithmetic; and existing problems.
Wang Zhaosheng, Deputy Director of Lingshi County Education Bureau, reported on the development of Lingshi County as a national experimental zone of abacus and mental arithmetic education and teaching, as well as the achievements, problems and perplexities after becoming an experimental zone, from aspects of perfecting institutions, leaders’ attention, insisting on serving abacus and mental arithmetic education, in-depth research, improving literacy, organizing competitions and participating in competitions. In particular, after the revocation of the Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Association of Lingshi County, there have been some problems in finance and education-related communication, which need to be solved urgently.
Deputy Director Mu Ronghui said that the Finance Bureau should do a good job in the relevant guarantee work, but the Education Bureau should take the leading role in abacus and mental arithmetic education and teaching work, and put forward the new idea for the experimental zone under the new situation of “Education Bureau plays the leading role, with support from Finance Bureau”. Shi Shixing, Deputy Secretary-General of Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Association of Shanxi Province, put forward some constructive suggestions on the current problems in Lingshi Experimental Zone.
In the end, Wen Zhifang, on behalf of the research group, expounded the research results of the national abacus and mental arithmetic education and teaching experimental zone jointly carried out by CAMAA and National Institute of Education Sciences. He also affirmed the work done by the Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Associations of Jinzhong City and Shanxi Province and Lingshi Experimental Zone in recent years, and put forward ideas and suggestions for the future work in this regard. He pointed out that the tripartite linkage mechanism of Finance Bureau, Education Bureau and Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Association would be improved and the responsibilities of the leading group and the working group in the experimental zone will be divided. Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Association should establish the awareness of the first responsible person in the tripartite linkage mechanism, fully rely on the support and assistance of the Finance Bureau and Education Bureau, and actively play a good role in coordination, communication and promotion. We should fully respect the dominant position of experimental schools in teaching and research work, give full play to the initiative and enthusiasm of school principals, teaching directors and teachers, and promote experimental work to enter deep-water areas to meet the needs of popularization. Research is the basic content and requirement of experimental work, so it should be actively carried out in combination with the overall objectives and tasks and the development needs of all experimental zones.
The research group also observed the open classes of famous abacus and mental arithmetic teacher Wang Genhua in Lingshi County’s No.2 Primary School. In order to examine the teaching effect, Dr. Liu Qinying gave the students questions on the spot. The students produced answers quickly and correctly, winning unanimous praise.
During the investigation, the CAMAA Research Group and the Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Association of Shanxi Province exchanged views on the implementation of the Opinions on Strengthening the Inheritance and Development of Abacus and Mental Arithmetic (hereinafter referred to as the Opinions) issued by the General Office of the Ministry of Finance. They affirmed the effort of Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Association of Shanxi Province in forwarding the Opinions in the Abacus and Mental Arithmetic system and expressed their intention to further combine the actual work with the practice of studying and formulating specific implementation measures when forwarding the Opinions in the province’s finance system, and put forward guiding opinions for this matter. The research group suggested: Combining with the reality of Shanxi, embodying the characteristics of Shanxi, giving full play to the advantages of Shanxi’s historical and cultural resources, taking the opportunity of the provincial finance system’s effort in forwarding the Opinions, relevant personnel should promote the research on the Mathematics Skills and the relevant exhibition in the Wang Wensu Memorial Hall, actively encourage and support the teacher training and training work of Jinzhong Teachers College, and strengthen the supporting and guidance work for Lingshi Experimental Zone, which is a national abacus and mental arithmetic education and teaching experimental zone.