Calculators have been a touchy subject in mathematics classrooms all over because of the different uses. They are great for any type of math, but the real worry is that if they are allowed in classrooms all the time, won’t students forget their basic math skills? The pros do not outweigh the cons and vice versa with the use of calculators, however, both sides are valid.
A calculator is an important enabling tool and if used strategically, can make math enjoyable and easier for all students. Students can use them to check their work and make sure they got their answers right, as well as seeing how a graph works in correlation with a problem that they are working on rather than trying to draw it out.
When only used when needed, calculators can …show more content…
They are pretty simple to use, and students get the hang of them fairly quick. Having calculators readily available may make math more enjoyable for some students, as they may help a student understand a problem more, and assist with getting the answers. However, one of the main counterarguments to allowing calculators in the classroom is that students can very easily take advantage of having a calculator. You don’t have to do all the work, you can just type in a problem and get an answer. Technology, such as calculators, can be used to replace a student’s basic understanding of mathematics. As a teacher, having your students relying so much on calculators to get to the right answer becomes a scary place, because now there is the worry that students could also become content in their knowledge and no longer feel the need to expand and learn new things, because as long as they have the basic formula’s down, they wouldn’t actually need to know how to solve a problem, they could just put it into a calculator knowing that their answer will be correct – assuming they have the right formula and entered it in …show more content…
When it comes to standardized testing, this can be a huge concern, as most tests do not allow students to use calculators, and if they do, it is only for a small portion of the entire thing. They could also need the knowledge of how to do simple math in the futures, and not be able to, or it be a much slower process due to only using calculators instead of using long-hand. The more advanced calculators can cost over two hundred dollars, and even though there are cheaper ones available, the ones used in schools are around one-hundred and twenty dollars apiece. The cost alone can be devastating for some students’ families, and even though some school districts provide calculators for their student’s to use, there is always the risk that they could be stolen, and the school loses that amount for each calculator that goes missing. Graphing calculators can be used to store formulas and notes on them, and if the school provides a classroom set, students can look into the history of answers that another student got when taking a test or doing homework. Some calculators even have wireless capabilities, which provides a student with answers at their fingertips. Though, a lot of these that have wireless capabilities also have a test mode that disables many of the functions that are not pre-test
A calculator is an important enabling tool and if used strategically, can make math enjoyable and easier for all students. Students can use them to check their work and make sure they got their answers right, as well as seeing how a graph works in correlation with a problem that they are working on rather than trying to draw it out.
When only used when needed, calculators can …show more content…
They are pretty simple to use, and students get the hang of them fairly quick. Having calculators readily available may make math more enjoyable for some students, as they may help a student understand a problem more, and assist with getting the answers. However, one of the main counterarguments to allowing calculators in the classroom is that students can very easily take advantage of having a calculator. You don’t have to do all the work, you can just type in a problem and get an answer. Technology, such as calculators, can be used to replace a student’s basic understanding of mathematics. As a teacher, having your students relying so much on calculators to get to the right answer becomes a scary place, because now there is the worry that students could also become content in their knowledge and no longer feel the need to expand and learn new things, because as long as they have the basic formula’s down, they wouldn’t actually need to know how to solve a problem, they could just put it into a calculator knowing that their answer will be correct – assuming they have the right formula and entered it in …show more content…
When it comes to standardized testing, this can be a huge concern, as most tests do not allow students to use calculators, and if they do, it is only for a small portion of the entire thing. They could also need the knowledge of how to do simple math in the futures, and not be able to, or it be a much slower process due to only using calculators instead of using long-hand. The more advanced calculators can cost over two hundred dollars, and even though there are cheaper ones available, the ones used in schools are around one-hundred and twenty dollars apiece. The cost alone can be devastating for some students’ families, and even though some school districts provide calculators for their student’s to use, there is always the risk that they could be stolen, and the school loses that amount for each calculator that goes missing. Graphing calculators can be used to store formulas and notes on them, and if the school provides a classroom set, students can look into the history of answers that another student got when taking a test or doing homework. Some calculators even have wireless capabilities, which provides a student with answers at their fingertips. Though, a lot of these that have wireless capabilities also have a test mode that disables many of the functions that are not pre-test