We Need Calculators in the Classroom

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We Need Calculators in the Classroom

Technology has become a huge part of our lives and our society. Almost everything we use involves the use of computers. In the past few years, technology has been improved and updated which has made our lives easier and more efficient making us more advanced than the rest of the world. I strongly believe in having calculators in the classroom because it teaches children to expand their knowledge of math and science at a very young age. It can give students a variety of ways to look at problems and at the same time expand their knowledge in the subject. If our school has the opportunity to apply for a grant enabling every student and teacher to their own calculators, we should not hesitate to accept this offer.

The use of calculators in the classroom is a very debatable issue and there are many pros and cons. In many schools you will find teachers who are not for calculators because they feel as though students rely heavily on them and end up losing their basic skills in mathematics or just become lazy. Gordon Clavert wrote an article titled ìA dependence on technology and algorithms or a lack of number sense?î In this article, he explains that when he gives his students calculators they lose all sense of thought. He discusses how disturbed he gets when he sees a child put 9+4 into the calculator because this should be easily calculated in their head. Instead they choose to rely on the calculator. While I see Calvertís point, I would argue that it would depend on how the teacher goes about teaching the material. Teachers do have an effect in how the material is taught and technology can prove to be a valuable tool rather than a negative. In the article: ìClassroom t...

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...lassroom technology: tool for, or focus of, learning?. Mathematics Teacher, February 1996. Retrieved February 12, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://newfirstsearch.oclc.org/webz/FspagePagename=FTascii:pagetype=print:entityprinting/

Teachers teaching with technology. (1997, December 4). The Role of Calculators in Math Education. Pomerantz, MD: Author. Retrieved February 21, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://www.t3ww.org/t3/therole.htm

Raggett, M. (2000, November 26). Calculated risks in education. Mathematics in School, November 2000. Retrieved February 12, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://newfirstsearch.oclc.org/webz/Fspagepagename=Ftascii:pagetype=print:entityprinting/

Stamets, T. (2002, August 20). Teacher2Teacher Public Discussion. Retrieved February 20, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://mathforum.org/t2t/discuss/message.taco?thread=480&n=1/

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