Technology
has improved tremendously over the years from personal use to educational use.
As a future teacher, I do not believe in the traditional ways of teaching a
classroom through lectures and memorization. Teaching and learning are supposed
to be interactive, hands on, visual, and authentic. Now a days technology could
play a great role in supporting lesson plans, to meet the needs of students.
Over
the years, teachers and students have been using calculators in math classes,
and no matter the math class one is usually needed. I know that I have needed a
calculator for every math class I have taken from a young age to now in
college, but what does a calculator really do? There are many types, but here
are some of the most popular used today. There are standard calculators, which
are to add, subtract, multiply and divide. There are fraction calculators that
allow the conversion of decimals to fractions and vice versa. There are scientific
calculators, which are used to solve problems in science, engineering in math.
Scientific calculators usually include scientific notation, logarithmic
functions, exponential functions, constants, conversion of units, variables,
calculus notations, equation solving, probability, statistics, complex numbers,
and fractions. There are graphing calculators used to graph functions for
visual representation of a trend. There are area calculators that make solving
for the area of any shape easier. Then there are other calculators that help
students prepare for the adult life, such as mortgage calculator, loan
calculator, lease calculator, and currency calculator, which are
self-explanatory. Then there are calculators for fun like love calculators,
which predict the likeness that two people will be together. Each of these
calculators plays a role in the student’s understanding of math.
There
are endless possibilities with what can be done with a calculator and teach. A
calculator is beneficial for a student to see a problem better, look at a
problem from a different approach, or to understand the problem. In math, there
are always various representations, such as a function, a graph, a chart, and
more. Not every student learns the same, so each representation can help a
student more than another. Doing each of these three representations could
sometimes be time consuming, even if a student already knows how to do each.
However, with a TI-84, a TI-Inspire, or any other advanced calculator, a
student can do each of these in a matter of seconds, compare the three
different representations, observe what is going on and make a judgment about
which is the best to represent the given data. There are even talking
calculators for students who are visually impaired.
It
is just as important for a student to know how to apply their math skills on
paper, as how to apply them on a calculator. Once a student has a full
understanding on the material, it is important to teach them how to do it on
the calculator as well for a few reasons. The first reason being certain things
in math could be time consuming like graphing, while using a calculator takes a
few seconds for results. This reason allows students to get answers for various
problems, while comparing and contrasting the solutions for understanding as to
why the results are different. An example would be graphing different scenarios
and comparing the data trend for each scenario to make predictions and
understand why the trends are different. This would be a lot faster on the
calculator than by hand. The second reason is that although math skills are
great to have, jobs do not require employees to do the work by hand, but to get
the work done fast and effectively using technology/equipment to complete
projects, like Statisticians. The final reason is calculators allow students to
check their work, to see if they did it correctly. It is only natural to have
human error and to make silly mistakes, calculators allow student to check
their work and find their mistakes, so they will learn not to do it again.
Overall, calculators are enlightening and are supplementary for students
learning math today. Calculators are also portable, some are pocket sized, most
are inexpensive for its functions, and some are even solar powered.
Like you said I believe that students should know how to use a calculator efficiently. I believe that before they have access to a calculator they should first know and understand the steps of a problem and they should understand how to solve it on paper. Sometimes students will relay on a calculator to do the work for them without understanding how to do it themselves.
ReplyDeleteHi Jennifer! I really enjoyed reading your post because it allowed me to see the thinking and observations of a fellow future educator outside my concentration area. As an English major, I don't really think about calculators much in terms of my future career. I'm just happy I'll have one to do grades! The way you feel about calculators, I sometimes feel about autocorrect on word processing software. Although it is helpful and allows students to create a more successful product with less effort, it is taking away some of the skills students do need. With math you mention that certain skills are no longer necessary to do by hand, but with English, spelling and grammar are necessary skills that are being phased out by technology. Our subject areas may be different in this respect but nonetheless, we can both see how technology has made performing within our disciplines much easier and more effective.
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