Sbahle Zwane is a 10 year old boy in Johannesburg South Africa who has been wooing everyone with his maths thinking – solving problems in his head without the use of a calculator. His mother says that “he only wants to talk about numbers.” She realised when he was a preschooler that he had an ability to work with numbers beyond his age expectations. Sbahle claims he sees all the numbers inside his head. He is using mental maths strategies to calculate. Do you have students in your class who show extraordinary maths skills beyond their age expectation? If so, how are you providing for their thinking?
You can see him calculating here. When he grows up he would like to be a pilot.