TEAM AWESOME

HCC Fall 2010

Assignment 2

1. If students learn without calculators, they will be forced to do the arithmetic by hand. The concepts will become cemented in their heads. Doing math by hand makes the students write out each part of the process step by step. Technology can provide shortcuts to some of these steps however, students can become dependent on the calculator. If students are never allowed to use calculators, they will learn to trust themselves and the math they do. That being said, calculators are a useful tool that people use outside the classroom setting. Denying students the opportunity to use it may hinder them outside of school.

2. Students who learn first without the calculator to learn the concepts can have an advantage over students who learn with it. Learning without this tool will allow the students to have a greater understanding of the underlying math. Once they have grasped the concepts, they can use a tool available to them in the real world. This can be advantageous because they can improve accuracy while still understanding the process.

3. Learning with the new hand held calculators can allow for faster learning. Students can check their work as they learn concepts, improving their confidence to do the math without the calculator. The calculator becomes a tool they can use if necessary but overall, the students understand the math and trust their own results. The calculator simply acts as training wheels for the arithmetic. Soon students can operate independently from it because they know they have the capabilities.

4. Technology has become a huge part of young people’s lives. They own cell phones and use social networking site to communicate. It makes sense to utilize their obsession with technology. Students understand how powerful computers can be. They know that the math can be done much faster and more accurately with the computer. If students let computers handle the basic computation, they will focus on learning what they are asking the computer to do. They can learn the concepts behind the math and why it behaves as it does. Students heavily rely on technology. Removing it will become a hindrance for their learning process.

My Opinion:

I am in favor of the second option. I believe it is important to learn the concepts step by step to truly comprehend why the math is doing. After the concepts have been learned, the students can use calculators, and maybe even other applications, to do some of the basic math. Learning the concepts by hand will provide a greater understanding of what’s going on as well as help with troubleshooting. Even technology can produce unpredicted and incorrect results. Without understanding the concepts, students would not be able to debug their work.