It’s the calculators stupid!
We talked in class about the relationship
between the soda ban and the classroom and as a future math teacher (knock on
wood) the clearest connection I saw to my classrooms is the usage of
calculators. Much like the mega
sodas my students might want calculators, because they make things easier and
they don’t have to think as hard. But as Mayor Bloomberg is attempting to say what they want
may not be what is best for their health and calculators, in my humble opinion,
inhibit the growth of mental math skills, as students will use them for
everything if they can. While the
soda ban might be unpopular, just like a no calculators class policy
undoubtedly will be, it is proposed in good faith and for the betterment of the
people of New York. Perhaps in the
spirit of the multiple loopholes in the New York ban I will permit my students
to use abacuses instead of scientific calculator.
Multi-media is a useful tool that helps
facilitate learning by all different kinds of students. However, the
application of different forms of representation appears to be limited in the
math classroom to typical dictation/board work that goes on in most math
classrooms across the nation along with real world applications of math and
using technology like Mathematica (http://www.wolfram.com/mathematica/)
to visually represent different mathematical concepts. Hopefully Teaching with Technology
(EDUC 504) will prove this to be a mistaken assumption.
The typical assignment format is
admittedly a very closed transaction between the individual student and the
teacher and one that favors more introverted or shy students. This does not mean it should be the
only way in which assignments are submitted. For some students the limited interaction and discussion for
assignments is unfulfilling and for these students projects and public displays
of work are more useful. In the
math classroom I believe this would necessitate more projects as displaying test
scores, even if it is only those who got high scores, in my experience is
nerve-wracking to many students and place increased unwanted pressure upon them.
For
much of class we discussed uses of technology and specifically the Internet. One of the natural concerns that arise
from being an authority figure in situation where the Internet is being used is
the fear of Internet safety, cyber bullying and the ilk. One of my compadres detailed a story
about a picture of a referee taken out of context and the difficulties it
caused not only the person in the picture, but his fellow employees. This issue of Internet safety is
something I as a future teacher am particularly nervous about and conscious
of. I have always had stricter
than default settings on my Facebook and have been very conscious of what pictures
I post and comments I make because I am aware that it can be a potential
complication when it comes to future employment. Unfortunately, many students do not have this awareness as
to what is and isn’t appropriate Internet behavior.
Smorgasbord Fun Fact: In New Zealand there is roughly 10
sheep to every person!
Calculators...I am with you on this for its typical usage. A calculator cannot bypass the need for fluency. Students should be able to retrieve from long term memory or quickly compute (way faster than they can key it in) facts like 20*35, sin(5 pi /4), ln (e^5), and so forth. Most math textbook problems don't really require a calculator, and the cognitive interrupt and overloading of working memory makes it unlikely a student dependent on a calculator can progress much farther in math. And frankly, being facile with multiplication facts and computations is much more useful on a daily basis.
ReplyDeleteOf course, if you need the square root of 31, it's reasonable to use a calculator. The calculator can be a nice exploratory tool, and I must say the CAS (symbolic) calculators could be genuinely helpful in learning algebra through calculus. The problem is preventing students from using the calculator to do their work. I think a disciplined use in the classroom could be good, and there appears to be warrant for it. It might require saying "ok, calculators need to be turned over, we are going to do these derivatives the old-fashioned way...."
Thanks for grounding me more in reality Pete. You are definitely right about calculators, while I might not like them there are most certainly situations where I should permit my students to use them. Not only with complex notions like sine and natural log but also in situations where the focus is less on the computation and more on the process and/or conceptual ideas, in which case making students write out the working they are doing on the calculator would work just fine. To be extremely strict on calculators would require me to alter some of the problems and examples I present in class and I do not know if this is necessarily the best use of the limited amount of planning time I have. With that being said I do still wish to have calculator usage minimized in my classes. I will use calculators as a tool/resource but I will try to prevent my students from becoming relient upon them.
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