Throughout recent years, extensive research has been conducted into the best ways to introduce decimals to students in the younger and lower levels of their education. It has become more than evident that there are many ways to teach decimals to young children, as well as conflicting views on good and bad ways to go about this. For young people decimals can be a scary topic to tackle so going about this can be tricky at times. Decimals and denominators have been listed as the “demons of misunderstanding, confusion and fear.” (Sparrow and Swan, 2005.) None the less they are an important area of mathematics and need to be taken seriously. Like when teaching any subject a teacher must know their students abilities and ways in which each student
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By using a calculator you “move beyond procedural teaching” to a more conceptive form of teaching and learning method in the classroom. Sparrow and Swan believe that the calculator adds another dimension into the teaching of decimals and that it is a “powerful teaching aid.” By using a calculator in early educational classrooms this could make this a more functional way of introduction showing students the ability to working out and how clear the answers become. This will also enhance the teaching of decimals as the students are able to see what is going on. Though the calculator is more time efficient and accurate many believe that it takes away from students ability to form and equate sums in their heads. However the main fear using a calculator is this will take away from the learning element in classrooms adding it potentially becomes a form of cheating and copying, rather than a good tool to use. If used correctly the calculator could be a useful tool in the teaching of decimals. Teachers still need to be mindful to clearly explain what is going on and make time for students to be able to reflect and share their thoughts on what they believe is happening so that anything that may be being misinterpreted can be cleared
By using a calculator you “move beyond procedural teaching” to a more conceptive form of teaching and learning method in the classroom. Sparrow and Swan believe that the calculator adds another dimension into the teaching of decimals and that it is a “powerful teaching aid.” By using a calculator in early educational classrooms this could make this a more functional way of introduction showing students the ability to working out and how clear the answers become. This will also enhance the teaching of decimals as the students are able to see what is going on. Though the calculator is more time efficient and accurate many believe that it takes away from students ability to form and equate sums in their heads. However the main fear using a calculator is this will take away from the learning element in classrooms adding it potentially becomes a form of cheating and copying, rather than a good tool to use. If used correctly the calculator could be a useful tool in the teaching of decimals. Teachers still need to be mindful to clearly explain what is going on and make time for students to be able to reflect and share their thoughts on what they believe is happening so that anything that may be being misinterpreted can be cleared