Open number-based calculation
Improved calculation and numbering
Simple, natural, manipulative and fun mathematics
This method awakens children’s curiosity, encouraging them to discover the relationships behind the numbers
It has long been clear that the way of teaching and learning mathematics needed to be revamped. The endless sessions in which the teacher shared knowledge and the students only had to listen and repeat what they had learnt in thousands of mechanical exercises are now a thing of the past. It is more than clear to us that the results of the old methods are not at all encouraging, which is why our school is committed to a more natural way of bringing mathematics closer to the children: the ABN method.
The open number-based calculation (ABN) method has developed enormously in a short period of time. It is now a real alternative to the old procedures of using meaningless counting and calculations. The key to its success lies in the higher performance of pupils using the new algorithms, who learn earlier, learn better, go further and understand arithmetic tasks more comprehensively
The ABN method is a natural fit with the brain’s spontaneous and intuitive way of processing calculations and dealing with numerical realities. The old procedures are based on a methodology in which everything must be learned from scratch, they are static. Arithmetic knowledge is presented as something that already exists, with fixed procedures that the pupil only has to memorise. However, the ABN method works with concrete quantities, allows the child to manipulate them, to discover the rules, to construct the numbers and, therefore, also the relationships between them. In short, it offers children the possibility of creating their own strategies, those that are most meaningful and useful to them.
