Quote:
Originally posted by snowman
In any case, I don't believe anyone should use a calculator until the 12 th grade and only then if they are proficient at that grade level. That’s the same grade slide rules used to be introduced.
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I used to believe the same thing (back when I taught slide rules). Things are different now. Kids are different, society is different, our expectations are different, tools at our disposal are different. I can't imagine doing simple trig without a calculator. There's no point in wasting time multiplying .8666 by 1.414 by hand calculations. What does that prove if you get it right or wrong? That you are good or bad at arithmetic? You probably never heard of William Shanks, an English mathematician. His contributions to the body of knowledge of mathematics were significant back in his day. He spent over 15 years calculating the first 707 places of pi. He published his results in 1873. In 1944 it was finally found, that he had made a mistake in the 528th place, and all the following digits were wrong. Does that mean he was a bad mathematician? Would we expect someone to repeat his calculation by hand today? Would that make you a great mathematician? Time marches on. We are in a different world.
We all know Albert Einstein. Einstein was considered a bonehead by his math teachers. They told him to give up, go back to the basics, he would never get it, too many mistakes on the simple stuff. Einstein was put in the slot of being a lowly patent clerk and he transcended the limits (limitations) people imposed on him. He didn't waste his genius on simple arithmetic. He stepped beyond.
In an earlier post I used the term limits. I suppose a better term would have been limitations. Do a find and replace.
Man had a limit (limitation) for thousands of years of not being able to fly. After the Wright brothers, it took us less than a century to make it to the moon. Once we stepped beyond the limitation, we went way beyond. Of course kids need to learn the basics first. But being able to do basic arithmetic is not and end in itself. Basic arithmetic is not necessarily related to kids ability to understand higher levels of mathematical/logical thinking and reasoning. A lot of people with good memories can do arithmetic. Our world needs people to think logicaly, critically, and solve new problems in new ways. Kids need to learn logical thought processes to step beyond the limitations around them. Rote repetition of simple arithmetic isn't going to get them there. Exposure to spreadsheets, graphing calculators, and a variety of mathematical thought processes and logical reasoning will give them tools to confront the coming challenges.