[MATHEDCC] calculators

Seese, Lillian (lseese@mcmail.stlcc.cc.mo.us)
Thu, 25 Feb 1999 07:22:07 -0600

I recently noted that 6 of my differential equations students began here
in our developmental math classes - most in Basic Math (arithmetic). So
I had a luncheon with these students and all of the math, science, and
engineering teachers who had been their instructors, and we chatted for
about 2 hours about what made them successful, advice they had for us,
etc. Without exception they stated that they really felt that doing
arithmetic without calculators was a big factor in their success in
uppor level math classes. They said (without our asking them to) that
the felt it was not possible to make the jump to abstractions in algebra
without a firm understanding of the arithemtic operations in Basic
Math. My favorite statement came from a young man who said that the
one thing that was most influential in his moving forward in his math
classes was when he finally had the courage to stop doing the
comfortable and easy homework problems (because he felt so good when he
got them right) and pushed himself to do the hard ones that he was
almost sure he wouldn't be able to complete successfully. Getting
outside of his comfort zone, and realizing that he could make some
progress on difficult problems encouraged him to continue in this mode.
Lillian Seese SLCC Meramec
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