Re: The newest technology being used to teach math

Sharon Smith (ssmith@ADMIN1.AUGUSTA.TEC.GA.US)
Thu, 23 Jan 1997 11:03:03 -0500

Somehow I feel out in left field. I just graded an exam on decimals for an
arithmetic course used in our diploma programs. Is the concept of rounding
important? Should a student know how to do that? Should they know how much
money the company would save on 500 of something if the price drops by so
much? My students have calculators and have grown up with calculators, but
still struggle with these problems. I can hardly wait till we get to
applications with fractions! The calculator can do the calculations, but
unless students have an idea of what is going on they are still in trouble
even if dealing with real data. For many of my students their world is so
small they don't even have a bank account and many feel numbers have no
place in their real world - even when they are faced with real world situations.

At 10:18 AM 1/23/97 -0500, you wrote:
>Greg Liano rote:
>
>> As far as you know, what is the latest technology being used to
>> teach math?
>
>This would seem to be the wrong question. Surely somewhere, someone is
>experimenting with a Virtual Reality experience of Platonic solids, etc.
>If I knew about it, it would become the answer here. But is this likely
>to be _significant_ to me as an individual concerned with the future of
>mathematics instruction?
>
>In terms of significance, the major "unexploded bomb" on our collective plate
>is still, to me, the promise of the TI-92. It's been out for a whole year,
>and we are still just nibbling at it. Given that improvements in the quality
>of the display need to (and will) happen, and that the price needs to (and
>will) come down a bit, the 92 really represents the driving engine of our
>changing expectations about what a "calculator" should do for us, and with us,
>as we explore mathematical pathways. Just yesterday I saw an E-mail message
>from a high school student who wondered why his older graphing calculator
>wouldn't add 2x and 3x to get 5x.
>
>Of course, our expectations probably should not become that a problem of this
>sort should appropriately be handled by a calculator. However, is it not
>appropriate to think that a calculator (one that most people can afford and can
>carry around with them) should be able to help us factor a polynomial such as
>x4 + x2 + 1 ? Or, more likely perhaps, fit a quadratic polynomial to a given
>set of five data points (using quadratic regression, of course).
>
>We were glad indeed 25 or so years ago to be able to take square roots and have
>one memory available for intermediate storage, at a cost of only a few hundred
>dollars. Since then there have been two significant "plateaus" reached with
>regard to calculator technology, expectations of certain clusters of
>functionality that should be there at a given (constantly-dropping) price
>level. The TI-92 takes off like a rocket from the second of these, and it is
>not clear where this is headed.
>
>RWW Taylor
>National Technical Institute for the Deaf
>Rochester Institute of Technology
>Rochester NY 14623
>
>>>>> The plural of mongoose begins with p. <<<<
>
>
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Sharon Smith
Augusta Technical Institute
Math Instructor
Isa 43:1-3
email ssmith@augusta.tec.ga.us
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