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Miscellaneous See other Miscellaneous Articles Title: Outlaw calculators in schools until basic math learned - math prof 1. CALCULATORS: I agree fully with Krista Markwart that calculators should not be used until basic skills are mastered. Students develop a very unhealthy dependency on calculators. I believe that this is one of the reasons why we see increased anxiety in students entering university. Many students feel that they cannot function without a calculator. They don’t trust their own ability. Calculators certainly do not promote understanding. It may be appropriate to use calculators for the experimental sciences such as physics, chemistry and biology but there is no need to use them in mathematics. I feel strongly that the schools should NOT allow the use of calculators in mathematics classes. Instead they should promote the use of the standard algorithms for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Once children/students have mastered the skill of using these algorithms they will feel much less anxious without their calculators and their confidence levels will have received a boost. 2. SUCCESSFUL REPETITION (or EFFICIENT SKILL DEVELOPMENT) I agree with Blair Zettl that successful repetition rather than mindless repetition leads to proper training. Using the music analogy – one can practice a piece over and over for many hours making the same mistake(s) every time one practices it; thereby reinforcing the wrong way of doing things and in the end either never learning to play the piece properly or else having to spend many hours unlearning what was not learnt properly from the beginning. Unlearning is far more time-consuming than learning it correctly the first time around. It is thus vital that children in their early stages of development are guided very closely. They should receive regular assignments that must be marked by the teacher. The child must be given regular feed back so that bad habits do not develop. Mastery at each step along the way before moving onto the next step is vital for proper development of mathematical skills. This approach too will result in much lower levels of anxiety. 3. SEMESTERIZATION: Long periods of time without exposure to mathematics are detrimental to the development, mastery and understanding of mathematics. Many high schools have introduced semesterization. As a result these students may not see any mathematics anywhere from 7 months to a year. Once they start the next grade of mathematics they may feel quite overwhelmed since they no longer recall much of the mathematics that was covered the previous year and on which the next grade depends. This has obvious consequences. With too little time available to recall and understand what was covered the previous year a student may find himself/herself in the situation where they either capitulate saying they can’t do math or else they may try to recall what they learnt in the previous year often getting their facts confused which in turn leads to a state of panic, anxiety and helplessness. Just as a musician will not be able to maintain a level of mastery by playing her/his instrument for only 5 months a year a student of mathematics cannot expect to maintain any level of mastery if they do math for only five months a year. 4. REGULAR TESTING: If other provinces can perform significantly better on the CMEC tests there is no reason why Manitoba’s students cannot perform better. I would like to propose some type of regular testing for the western provinces. This will give teachers and students an indicator on how well they are doing and an opportunity to improve the way they are teaching/learning mathematics. I would also like to propose more programs for gifted mathematics students so that our province can compare more favourably with other provinces in the upper levels of the CMEC results. Reply Krista Markwart, Saskatoon, SK. says: November 30, 2011 at 7:04 pm Our children need to learn their basic math skills before using calculators. I also don’t think a lot of the teachers teaching “Math Makes Sense” don’t know how to teach it or even understand it. Poster Comment: Allow calculators only for checking results; repeat calculations if error occurs. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 2.
#2. To: Tatarewicz (#0)
I use a calculator so much I have trouble doing math with a pencil.
#3. To: Turtle (#2)
Always a good idea to be able to mentally ball park a calculation. Otherwise you can easily be out by an order of magnitude by mispunching keys.
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