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Calculators vs. PDAs in the Classroom
TheMatt writes "CNN.com is reporting about a new conflict perhaps emerging in classrooms: calculators v. PDAs. The article talks about how TI seems to be making their latest calculator more PDA-like, while PDAs are gaining
TI-like functionality. A comment on current math education is this quote from the article:
"When you have circles and ellipses, there is no way you'd be able to do this without a calculator," Jarvis said. "It helps us visualize what we're doing." Were the compass and geometry uninvented?"
The downside of being a geek is you don't know whether to lose face admitting your system is down and you can't reach it -or- admit you really didn't do your homework, thus can't download it.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
I always remember playing SimCity on my friends TI-86 during math class, does this mean I can play it on a PDA too?! Anyone else play SimCity on a TI? It was pretty damned good for a calc game.
In college, really poor, need a flatscreen.
Just the other day I saw someone use a butane lighter to light a cigarette. Apparently they don't even know the basic ways to make fire anymore. Was the tinder box uninvented?
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
Tip chart? My latest cell phone will calculate tips!
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
I know several people that can't calc a 10% tip in their head, can't guestimate even.
Shop smart, Shop S-Mart.
Too bad there are no more HP calcs.... RPN was awsome to use.
... at all levels. In the early 90s I TA'd a course in statistical mechanics at Stanford. We got to the inevitable part where you have to calculate the expected wait time before all of the air in the room accidentally ends up under the desk. It turns out to be something like 10^130 seconds -- a very, very long time. The most common answer was "too long for my calculator", because after all most calculators can only go up to 9E99.
How annoying. You'd think they'd just switch to calculating the logarithm of the answer, or divide by 10^75, or something. But, no, "very big" was enough for most. These were Stanford students, too -- supposedly the cream of the (western half of the) nation's crop of students...
as long as the "ole fashioned" ways (i.e. by hand on paper) are taught/learned first.
Agreed. All computer science education will now start with punch cards and move forward to more modern tools.
Quite right. Loud calculators tend to disturb the teachers & neighbouring students.
Like, why not just go straight cellular and connect to the internet or your home beowulf cluster?
Can students use their cel phones to call their life-lines during exams?
I was recently awarded the unpatent. Non-users of "the compass and geometry" must cease their inaction immediately, or I'll be forced to litigate.
So it's started already... with compasses and protractors. From observation of such sent-back-through-the-wormhole documentaries from the future as Star Trek and Babylon 5, you'll be able to determine at what point the uninvention of fuses, fire extinguishers, money and fashion sense occur.
And probably plenty more I'd not thought of...