Published Paper Details:

This study investigates the Effectiveness of Abacus based techniques in Improving Speed and Accuracy in Arithmetic among Grade IV primary school students. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest non-equivalent group design was employed, dividing 80 students into two groups: a Control Group (C) (n = 40) taught using conventional methods and an Experimental Group (E) (n = 40) trained using Abacus strategies. The intervention consisted of a structured 60-class instructional module focusing on simple addition and subtraction, with the aim of enhancing computation speed and accuracy. Data collection involved pretest and posttest arithmetic assessments, measuring speed (time taken in minutes) and accuracy (percentage of correct responses). Statistical analyses, including paired t-tests and independent t-tests, were conducted to determine the effectiveness of each instructional approach. The findings revealed that while the conventional method led to a significant improvement in arithmetic speed in the control group, the Abacus strategy demonstrated a much greater impact, yielding a very large effect size. Comparative post-test results further confirmed that students trained with Abacus strategies outperformed those taught through conventional methods in both speed and accuracy, with a highly significant difference (p < .01). These results highlight the superiority of Abacus-based learning over traditional methods in developing arithmetic fluency and precision. Given its substantial impact, integrating Abacus strategies into primary mathematics education may serve as an effective pedagogical approach for enhancing foundational numeracy skills. Future research could explore the long-term retention of Abacus-based arithmetic skills and its applicability to higher-order mathematical concepts.