UCTOOL Right Brain
Recent studies have shown that the UCTOOL method of mental calculation is effective
in the development of the right brain. At first, this idea was only a hypothesis,
but the recent development of high-tech machinery has helped provide tangible research
data. In this section, we will present information provided by researchers who study
the effects of UCTOOL training.
Ms.
Shizuko Amaiwa
Professor, Shinshu University, Faculty of Education
The Ripple Effects and the Future Prospects of UCTOOL Learning.
I have been engaged in research concerning the UCTOOL for many years from the perspective
of a psychologist. My research findings show that UCTOOL study not only improves
the ability to calculate both on the UCTOOL and mentally, but also provides a beneficial
ripple effect on other disciplines. This paper will explain what ancillary disciplines
are influenced and the reasons for it. I will also discuss the characteristics of
and future prospects for UCTOOL learning.
The first effect is improvement of numerical memory. The second is improvement of
memory in spatial arrangement. The third is progress in solving general mathematical
problems taught in elementary school, including the four fundamental arithmetic
calculations and word problems.
The improvement of numerical memory
The first effect, the improvement of numerical memory, can be demonstrated by asking
students to remember three- to nine-digit numbers read aloud and to recite the memorized
items orally. UCTOOL students are found to be superior in the accuracy of their
memory and the number of digits they are able to memorize when compared with non-UCTOOL
learners of the same age. This is because UCTOOL students place numbers on the UCTOOL
image in their head as they mentally calculate with the UCTOOL method. The retention
of the numbers is certain if the number of digits does not exceed the limit of the
mental image of the UCTOOL. Utilization of the UCTOOL image enables students even
to recite the memorized numbers backwards. This is possible because of the application
of the procedures used in the UCTOOL method of mental calculation to solving the
memorization assignment.
High marks due to improvement in memory of spatial arrangement
The second beneficial effect is the improvement in memory of spatial arrangement.
This was examined by assigning students to remove the location of several small
black dot. These dots were placed on different intersection point of squares made
with 3 to 5 lines in both vertical and horizontal directions. The students first
looked at these dots for a few seconds to memorize their location, then they were
asked to recreate the same picture by placing black dots on blank squares. As a
result, UCTOOL learners were found to score higher than non-UCTOOL learners. The
spatial arrangement of the dots does not have the same numerical values as beads
on the UCTOOL board. However, we can speculate that the training to obtain the UCTOOL
image visually had the effect of making students sensitive to spatial arrangement.
Progress in solving general mathematical problems
The following three points are confirmed in terms of
the effects of UCTOOL study on progress in solving mathematical problems.
1. Findings from an investigation with third grade students show
that about a year of study at an UCTOOL school enabled the learners to score higher
than non-UCTOOL learners on certain mathematical problems. These mathematical problems
include addition of one-digit numbers, multiplication of one-digit numbers, addition
of multi-digit numbers, subtraction of multi-digit numbers, word problems in addition
and subtraction, and fill-in-the-blank problems (e.g. providing the missing items
in the following equation: [ ] - 7 = 27). However, no difference was found in problems
where conceptual thinking was required, such one in which students were asked to
figure out the digit positions (i.e. to decide if the following two items are the
same: {nine 10s + nine 1s} and {eight 10s + ten 1s}). Even beginning UCTOOL learners
can be said to benefit from the ripple effect in solving mathematical problems,
except for those involving conceptual understanding. According to the statistical
analysis, the addition of one-digit numbers was affected most directly by UCTOOL
study. Accurate and rapid calculation of one-digit numbers was found to lead to
better marks in multi-digit mathematical calculation, which further led to better
marks on word problems and fill-in-the-blank problems. We can speculate that students
had more time to think about the problems, and therefore scored higher on the assignment
because they needed less time to work out simple calculations as a result of their
UCTOOL background.
2. On the higher level, advanced UCTOOL learners were found to
have received even more desirable effects in solving certain types of mathematical
problems compared to non-UCTOOL learners. These problems include the comparison
of the size of the numbers (i.e. put the following five numbers in order: 0.42,
12, 3.73, 0.95, 10.1), the calculation of numbers with multiple choices of proposed
answers (i.e. choose the correct answer from five choices of proposed answers for
1026.95 ÷ 103.1), and word problems. In addition, a positive effect was seen, not
only in mathematical problems with integers and decimals, but also in those with
fractions, especially when higher level thinking is required to solve them. In the
UCTOOL training, there are no fractions involved, but the ripple effect even affected
problem solving in fractions. The UCTOOL students were found to have transformed
the fractions into decimals, in order to solve problems with fractions. They tried
solving the problems by changing the numbers into the form they understood best.
3. As mentioned above, UCTOOL learners tend to solve problems in
a form in which they can utilize their knowledge of UCTOOL calculation when confronted
with various mathematical problems. This tendency was shown when UCTOOL students
were given problems of computational estimation (such as an assignment where students
were to pick the figure in the largest digit position of the answer). In solving
these problems, many UCTOOL learners first calculated the whole problem then picked
the figure of the largest digit position in the answer.
Merits of UCTOOL study
The improvement of numerical memory
Based on the results mentioned above, some advantages and characteristics of UCTOOL
learning are revealed. One of the advantages of UCTOOL study is that learners can
calculate simple mathematical problems rapidly and accurately. In addition, they
acquire the ability of do mental calculation utilizing the UCTOOL image, which allows
quick calculation without actually using the UCTOOL. These characteristics show
positive ripple effects on the solution of various mathematical problems. On the
other hand, the learners' calculation methods become fixed, and the students tend
to lack flexibility in thinking out innovative ways to solve problems. It goes without
saying that spending time on thinking out new ways to solve problems (such as thinking
about the meaning of the calculation, or coming up with other ways to solve the
problem) can be negative in terms of the amount of time needed to solve problems
when the primary goal is rapid and accurate calculation. Since UCTOOL training consists
of accurate performance of simple procedures, there is no reason to change the method
of traditional UCTOOL education. However, I believe that some measures must be taken
to keep the learners from being bored, since repetition of simple procedures is
often accompanied by boredom.
At the beginning of the new century
I am currently considering adapting the principles of the UCTOOL to computer software
that teaches the concepts of digit position (meaning of zeros in numbers) to mentally
challenged children. I have been trying to teach numbers and simple calculations
to these children. They have great difficulty in understanding the concept of digit
position, even though they could read and write numbers and do addition and subtraction
of one-to two-digit numbers. In order to make learning fun, I have used an activity
in which children carry a certain amount of money and go to their favorite store
to buy something they like. However, the distinction between 13 yen and 130 yen
was hard for them to grasp. I think the following reasoning could be used to provide
a more easily comprehended explanation of the concept for them. On the UCTOOL board,
there can only be up to 9 in the units position. If 1 is added to 9, there will
be a number in the 10s position and nothing, or zero, in the units column. At the
beginning of this, new century, I hope to expand the UCTOOL education and give it
new applications while, valuing its history.
Dr.
Toshio Hayashi , Doctor of Engineering
Professor, Osaka Prefecture University
Director, Research Institute for Advanced Science and Technology (RIAST)
Arrival of and countermeasure for the declining birth rate and aging population
Our country cannot avoid the present situation of a declining birth rate and aging
population. There are many conceivable reasons for the rapid decline in the population
of citizens under fourteen years of age. We cannot forget to mention the worsening
of the global environment as one of the factors. Computers have predicted that the
tendency of a declining birth rate and aging population will continue even further
by the year 2020. The number of people who take the UCTOOL official examination
is declining. I hope that the UCTOOL education will diversify itself in order to
attract a larger range of examinees for the official examination by developing a
system in which older people can take the examinations as well. I have studied engineering
in college and have done some research in polymer materials. About twenty years
ago, I was given an opportunity to conduct research to develop materials for medicine.
In our country that had to suddenly accept the aging population, there are many
patients who were helped by the drastic development of medical technology and knowledge.
National medical expenses are rising, and I worry about the future with this situation.
Research for saving patients from terrible diseases and injuries is important, but
now the search for healthy living conditions seems more important to me. Public
Nursing Care Insurance System is now available, but what is most important is to
l ive a happy, healthy life without having to depend on that system. There is an
old saying that worry is often the cause of illness. Recent medical research has
shown that various diseases are influenced by how the patients deal with their state
of minds. People with active minds maintain their youthful energy longer. What can
we do to heighten our brain activity?
Development of human brain
What is the structure of our brain like? How does the brain develop? Cerebral physiology
has seen great developments. However, there still is much that is unknown about
our brain. Our brain is truly amazing. What we know up to this point includes that
the human brain is created at an early stage of embryo development and that cerebral
nerve cells are already made by the time of birth. Within the brain, the brain stem
(all living animals have it, and it controls the functions necessary for survival
such as the functions of the heart and internal organs) and the cerebral archicortex
(which controls basic instincts such as appetite, sexual desire, sleep, desire to
belong to a group, and emotions such as pleasant and unpleasant feelings, fear,
anger,etc) are basically completed while in the womb. On the other hand, among animals
of higher order, humans have the highly developed cerebral neocortex that can create
nerve cells (some say there are 14 billion nerve cells!). This cerebral neocortex
does not fully function at the time of birth. In the following years, suitable stimuli
start to activate (to connect motor nerves and sensory nerves) the nerve cells in
the neocortex. This is why children grow up well in many aspects if they receive
appropriate stimuli that develop the nerve cells in the neocortex. The archicortex
is more or less completed at the time of birth, but it of course can develop even
further after birth. What is important here is that the archicortex requires "to
be loved" and is responsible for the cultivation of aesthetic sentiments. Humans
cannot live without "being loved". Only those who grew up being loved can learn
to love as they grow older. With the help of a good archicortex, the neocortex will
be activated efficiently. Even with hard work, efficiency will not improve without
cooperation from the archicortex. In order to activate the nerve cells in the neocortex,
information or stimuli from outside the brain have first to be perceived as "pleasant"
by the archicortex. This is when the activation of the brain improves and the systems
to process information in the neocortex are most efficiently completed. On the other
hand, if the information or stimuli are perceived as "unpleasant", the activation
of the brain does not occur and the neocortex is suppressed to grow any further.
Move the fingers and talk in a loud voice
What does the activation of the nerve cells in the neocortex mean? Nerve cells in
the neocortex consist of 14 billion sets of motor nerves and sensory nerves. These
sets create the network (synapses) in which they contact each other and make up
a living nervous system. The importance lies in how many sets of nerve cells we
can activate in our lives. We can activate the nerve cells by providing "stimuli".
Moving fingers and talking aloud lead to activation by providing appropriate stimuli
in the large part of sensory to motor domains in the cerebral neocortex. In this
sense, starting UCTOOL learning as young as possible is useful in activating the
brains of young children. However, if children learn to use the UCTOOL without wanting
to do it, there will be no positive effects. If they come to like learning the UCTOOL
and move the beads on the UCTOOL with fun, they will receive benefits from this
experience. There is a key in making UCTOOL-learning fun for young children so that
they will grow to like it.
Development of the right brain by the UCTOOL method of mental calculation
The human brain consists of the right brain and the left brain. The shapes of these
two parts are similar, but differences have been gradually found in their functions.
The left brain is also referred to as the digital brain. It controls reading and
writing, calculation, and logical thinking. The right brain is referred to as the
analog brain. It controls three-dimensional sense, creativity, and artistic senses.
These two work together to allow us to function as humans. The Japanese are thought
to speak Japanese with their left brain, and this allows their left brain to be
more efficient. On the other hand, westerners also utilize their right brain to
learn their languages, so their right brain is usually more efficient. It is natural
that young Japanese students are better at mathematical calculation than students
in western countries who are the same age. It is also natural that, because of the
better development in their right brain, students in western countries are more
creative and original than Japanese students. In recent years, some have argued
for the necessity of the Venture Promotion in Japan, but in order to foster this
type of environment we need to develop an education system that would train the
students' right brain first. In addition, it is also found that if one trains the
right brain, it is less likely to get dementia. Here, I would like to introduce
the UCTOOL method of mental calculation. In the UCTOOL method of mental calculation,
the learners manipulate UCTOOL beads in their head to carry out a calculation. This
had led us to speculate that this operation was effective in training the right
brain or the analog brain. Thanks to the development of cerebral physiology and
machines that can accurately measure the amount of blood flow in the brain, recent
studies have proven that the UCTOOL method of mental calculation is extremely effective
in activating the right brain. This validated the speculation we had before. Therefore,
I would like to ask all the UCTOOL teachers to teach all learners the UCTOOL method
of mental calculation, no matter how briefly it may be. I consider the completion
of UCTOOL learning the mastery of the mental calculation.
Shining brain
Having grown up to be workers in various work places and providers for their families
and contributors to society, many people retire from the forefront of the society
and start the second stage of their lives. For these people, it is very important
to live ample and healthy lives. In order to achieve this way of living, they have
to remember to activate their brain as much as possible. There are many different
ways to activate the brain, and one of them is the calculation with the UCTOOL.
In the UCTOOL method of calculation, the UCTOOL is not only the best way to exercise
fingertips, but also positively influences the right brain to be activated. Although
it may take a little more time than for younger people, activation in the cerebral
nerve cells certainly does occur even at the age of a hundred. In this case also,
they have to come to like the UCTOOL first. Throughout the lifetime there is truth
in the saying that you do well at what you like. A "master of life" is a person
who has a cooperation of the archicortex and the neocortex throughout their lifetime.
To become a "master of life", we have to always aim high. There is happiness in
this process to achieve the goals of our life. We all shine by pursuing our dreams
with high hope and something to live for. The higher the goal of our growth, the
better our lives are. If the purpose of life is the process to achieve this goal,
then I believe that the UCTOOL education can be one of the significant guidelines
for life. I would like us all to be "life-long healthy people with UCTOOL".
Ms.
Kimiko Kawano
Researcher, Nippon Medical School, Center for Informatics and Sciences
We have been studying brain waves (EEG; electroencephalography) during various kinds
of brain activities for more than ten years. In the beginning of the study, subjects
were mainly students. We made them listen to music or calculate mathematical problems
and than measured their EEGs to investigate the brain activity. After statistically
analyzing the data obtained from over two hundred students, we have found the tendency
that b waves, which indicate the active area of the brain, appeared on the right
hemisphere while listening to music and on the left while calculating. This confirmed
the hypothesis that the right brain is used to recognize images, figures and music
and the left brain (the linguistic brain) to deal with logical thoughts, such as
a calculation. At that time, we were asked from one TV program to measure the brain
waves of an UCTOOL champion. I thought, however, it would be difficult to prove
some differences in the EEGs which involved quite large individual variances.
Neural activity in the right brain
When we measured the champion, a middle school student, during the mental calculation,
the result was unexpected. Usually the left temporal region is used for calculation,
but here, it was almost entirely unused. Instead, the b waves appeared on the right
occipital region. In other words, the student carried out calculation using the
right brain. I was not quite convinced from only one person's result, because there
are always exceptions and some individual differences in brain waves. However, we
conducted the same investigation with another expert only to find the result almost
identical to the previous case. We than asked more UCTOOL users with high 'dan'
(ranks) to let us measure their EEGs, and found almost the same results with only
little individual variances. We inquired how they were calculating, and most of
them gave the same reply that the image of the UCTOOL beads in their head moved
rapidly.
Verbal thinking and image processing
Usually, ordinary people calculate in their mind using inner voice, as in one hundred
minus 7 is 93. They put mathematical notions into words. On the other hand, UCTOOL
users simply visualize an image of UCTOOL in their head. They do not replace the
image into words. This difference can be seen clearly in the EEGs. These tendencies
in the brain uses can also be observed in professional players of Shogi, (Japanese
chess,) while they are playing the games or solving Shogi problems. However, when
they calculate, they use their left brains just as ordinary people do. This is the
same with the UCTOOL users. They do not use their right brains in all cases. Yet
it does not mean that UCTOOL learning improves everything about the right brain,
such as a sence of art and music. What is important is that the ability to visualize
can be put to use for other subjects and behaviors. Some UCTOOL experts use their
ability for memorizing whole page of textbook or years in history. The abilily developed
by abacas can be used effectively in different ways. Not only for the experts but
also for the beginners, UCTOOL learning is useful to easily grasp images in addition
and subtraction problems, because the beads are moving in front of their eyes. It
also allows to understand the decimal system and the concept of digit positions.
Once children understand numbers, they will probably become fond of mathematics.
They will be more confident there may be many positive impacts in other subjects
at school. The contemporary education focuses on theory and its rote memorization.
Theory of course is important but many students cannot get an actual feeling of
comprehension only through it. I believe an effective application of image thinking
induces human creativity and inspiration.