Preferred Materials
Calculating Changes assumes that students at all levels have open access to Poly Plug and Calculators. Activities can be adapted to other resources, but to get maximum benefit from the Calculating Changes professional development programs, schools will need to invest in these resources. Some schools have made that shift by putting Poly Plug on the children's book list.

 

... Poly Plug
For the following reasons, activities in our Activity Banks assume the use of Poly Plug. Many activities can be adapted to other materials, but nothing else offers so much in the one resource. Besides, children simply love using them.

Poly Plug...
  • is colourful, tactile, motivating
  • is classroom savvy - noiseless, easy to pack up
  • is useful as both a structured and an unstructured aid
  • has applications across a broad range of mathematical content - pattern, counting, fractions, graphing, symmetry, problem solving
  • has even more applications when used in conjunction with other simple, readily obtainable material such as dice and cards
Poly Plug is also used as a support resource for the Mathematics Task Centre because many of its hands-on tasks can be converted to whole class investigations with Poly Plug. Click here to find out more about Poly Plug from that site, including how to order.

 

... Calculators
Calculating Changes assumes students have free access to calculators from the day they enter school. This assumption is based on research from the Calculator Aware Number (CAN) project in England, and its derivatives elsewhere.

Given this assumption we want students to use calculators which give correct answers, and the majority of four function calculators in schools don't! - see the activity Order of Operations. Simple four function machines with this Algebraic Operating System (AOS) are not common. To assist you in deciding, we have gathered the following information about appropriate machines.

Our activities assume children of all ages have open access to calculators. Some activities can work with any machine, however, if the activity involves the possibility of mixing the operations of + or - with x or ÷ the simplest (read 'cheapest') four function machines will give the wrong answer to most questions. So, use your school calculators if you wish, but beware of this limitation.

If you want to gain maximum benefit from Calculating Changes membership we suggest you choose between the following machines. Both are small enough to be held in the hand of a 5-year old, although the AMR2 is a little bigger than the MathMaster.

MathMaster

Manufactured by Stokes Publishing Company, California, this simple keyboard, four function calculator has the order of operations built in. It also has several other excellent features, including a Key Eliminator Function that allows any key to be 'turned off', but it is not solar powered. The instruction pamphlet included with the machine claims it to be 'the world's finest four function calculator' and if it wasn't for its impractical battery power we could agree.

We have contacted Stokes about this issue and the response from their Vice President can be read here.

We can recommend MathMaster for your next calculator purchase, provided you are aware they are battery powered. Batteries will last some years, depending on usage, but down the track you will have to set time aside to change them. Digits beginning to dim indicate time for a battery change. We have developed a firm and friendly working relationship with Stokes Publishing and believe that they will stand behind their product (something that doesn't happen with less expensive 'Crazy Dave' machines), so if there is any problem other than digits dimming due to weakening batteries, we can direct you to their support network.

MathMaster is available in Australia from Objective Learning Materials (OLM)

Currently they have a special package deal:

  • Class set of 30 MathMasters
  • Freight free anywhere in Australia
  • $390 (GST included)

You can download the operation manual for MathMaster from this page on the Stokes Publishing site. It will give you a good idea of what the calculator can do and how the battery is changed.

Mollic AMR2

Manufactured by ALEGA Skolmateriel AB, Sweden, these machines are solar powered, use an Algebraic Operation System and have a two line display. As a result the keyboard has a few more buttons, but these are not overwhelming. The calculator measures 14ˇ2cm x 7ˇ5cm and is 1ˇ1cm thick. You can see more features of this calculator (in English) on the Mollic site.

During email discussions with the Manager, Göran Hjalmarsson, we have been impressed with their rapid response and sound business ethic. They can readily ship to Australia and offer the following packages:

  • 30-pack Mollic AMR2 calculators ... 290 Euro including freight to Australia.
  • 60-pack Mollic AMR2 calculators ... 490 Euro including freight to Australia.
  • Payment in advance by credit card.
  • Orders are placed by scanning a school purchase order and emailing directly to Göran at: alega@alega.se
  • A response will be received within 24 hours with instructions for paying on the web using a secure credit card process.
  • The order will be packed the next day and can be expected in the school in about one week.
Use this Currency Converter as a guide to current exchange rates.

TI7 MathMate
The Texas Instruments TI 7 MathMate was brilliant, perhaps because it was designed in co-operation with leaders from the Calculator Aware Number project. However, apparently because teachers thought they were too expensive, not enough were sold and the MathMate was discontinued.

The TI 15, which is offered as a replacement, does have order of operations built in but:

  • it is definitely not simple
  • it costs more than the MathMate did
  • it has too many buttons
  • it requires an instruction course to learn to use its features - some of which are worthwhile - and
  • it doesn't fit comfortably into the hand of a five year old.
So, if you can find any MathMates somewhere grab them ... and if you come across any other simple four function machine with AOS built in, please let us know the details.

Calculating Changes ... is a division of ... Mathematics Centre