[MATHEDCC] technology
Phil Mahler (mahlerp@admin.middlesex.cc.ma.us)
Tue, 23 Sep 1997 16:05:53 EST5EDT4,M4.1.0,M10.5.0
>I think that I have almost recovered from a statemenet said to me
>yesterday, after a student turned in a College Algebra test. He said "I
>can't solve those equations with the fractions because YOU will not let me
>use my graphing calculator that does fractions."
>
>I am 100% for the correct use of technology in the math classroom. I
>struggle every semester with letting students use a graphing caculator in
>my college algebra class. If I had a different book, I would like to
>require everyone to purchase a graphing caclulator and then teach this
>course in a different way. So, with the book I am forced to teach with, I
>choose to not allow graphing calculators on tests. I am also a grad
>student, with little time to think of ways to get around a "bad" book. I
>had been thinking yesterday about allowing them, and then I get this
>remark.
>
>This student is 100% dependent on his GRAPHING calculator. If he wasn't, he
>would know that a $10 calculator would "do" fractions for him also.
>
>Any suggestions?
>
If I read the above statements correctly, the student would be allowed to
use a $10 calculator with a fraction key.
And, it is the writer's opinion that graphing calculators are not
intrinsically detrimental to learning useful mathematics.
If the engineering and business colleges at this institution permit using
calculators, I would permit this student to use any calculator.
I might anyway.
Phil Mahler
Middlesex CC
Bedford, MA
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