Nader Habib speaks of memory and beans When I was discovered doing my elementary maths with a calculator, in kindergarten, my punishment was to be given problems involving numbers higher than 10, which I was required to work out with a can of beans, putting five next to six and so on. It did me a lot of good, actually. But today, thanks to a new Abacus-based system devised by the Malaysian mathematician Dino Wong, I was relieved to find out children can deal with even complex mathematical problems without the benefit of either beans or a calculator. More importantly, the Universal Concept of Mental Arithmetic System (UCMAS) acts as a brain gym; it develops mental potential in a natural and balanced way. According to instructor Amina Heikal, who teaches UCMAS at the Suzanne Mubarak Child Library in Maadi, the programme's main target is to enhance concentration, accelerate information processing and improve confidence, stimulating communication and creative skills. Heikal points out that a large part of intelligence depends on the speed of interaction of some billion brain cells: the slower, well, the slower. UCMAS bears the good news that brains, like muscles, can be trained to improve "fitness", meaning, for the most part, speed. "The system," she reveals, "can stimulate the brain, speeding up interaction and so boosting intelligence in ways that children find engaging and fun. And this is what we're always trying to explain to parents: that we're not teaching maths but rather expanding the mental abilities of children." Science has confirmed the long held view that the young are fast learners, with the peak occurring between the ages of four and 14 -- the age group targeted by UCMAS, of which the average programme, involving 10 levels, will take 30 months to complete. The classes should be limited to 15 students, with instructors working to ensure the active participation of everyone and focussing on self-expression, and they employ flash cards and such techniques as speed writing and Abacus boards. Usually, at some point in the programme, the children will start to compete, something that accelerates learning. According to Heikal, "last month we participated in the international competition in Malaysia and we managed to grab 14 seats -- a surprise to many of the participating countries." It seems that Egyptian children respond well to UCMAS; some of Heikal's students were indeed able to write as fast as 100 figures a minute after only three months of training -- in itself quite a feat. Education Minister Yussri El-Gamal was so impressed with the programme, in fact, he decided to introduce it in government schools at no extra cost. The programme has been tried out in a number of schools, including the Abbas Al-Aqqad and Al-Maqrizi experimental schools. Once the outcome of the programme is fully assessed, it may be incorporated into school curricula all across the country. Still, as a maths teacher speaking on condition of anonymity explained, of 10 UCMAS levels, only one has been applied, and the method has only been used with outstanding students -- a counter- intuitive step that makes it difficult to judge whether or not the system will be useful in education as a whole. The system, rather, should be applied to whole classes. What is even more of an issue is that, having acquired a reputation largely through hearsay, the system is now applied by many a profit- seeking, uncertified centre. In such cases it has proved ineffective. Competition has also emerged on the local market, with other programmes attempting to garner a share of the market. Heikal, however, is adamant: UCMAS is the most effective option by far; indeed some parents who enrolled their children in the alternatives had to withdraw and re-enrol them after a few months. Reham Adel, the mother of nine- year-old Amira, confirms this: after a few months in another programme, which proved ineffective, Amira was forced to repeat level 1 in order to obtain the certificate necessary to move onto level 2. This cannot be a coincidence. According to UCMAS Egypt Director Hussein Heikal, the success has to do with Wong annually updating the programme, back in the Malaysian headquarters -- an effort in which he engages not only the most recent findings from all over the world (statistics are regularly sent from Egypt) but equally the endeavours of a whole team of doctors and mathematicians. Hussein explains that, unless the work is top-notch, teaching stops and strategies are re-examined: "So far, things have been going well. We haven't had any problems." The top instructors have all received training abroad; and they all have to establish their ability to deal with children. The programme involves a whole set of quality-control measures, Hussein added: supervision of classes, psychological tests for the children and, in the case of children with known issues, clarifying to parents that the programme has nothing to do with psychology and is unlikely to improve it: "in such a case I advise the parents to take the child out of the programme, in which they might feel overwhelmed." Children show a wide variety of responses, indeed: Amal George's son, a top student, failed to maintain interest and dropped out; but her daughter, who had had trouble concentrating, enjoyed the classes and showed significant improvements in her mathematical skill. Some younger children, like Aria, five, find the programme too dry: Aria's mother says children need to learn through play, and that the teaching methods confused her daughter. Indeed she goes so far as to say that applying the programme across the country might "ruin the future of our children". Another mother, Asmaa, sensed resistance on the part of her son but found the programme useful in time: "he thought he'd end up with more homework, but as soon as he discovered it was more like play, he got into it. Now he's much better at maths, but his concentration hasn't improved as much as I had hoped."
