 |
Inclusion or Exclusion?
 |
So, the evidence from nearly 20 years of
classroom research is in:
a
calculator is a valuable
learning tool
a calculator used in conjunction with
manipulatives
is a better use
of this learning tool
a calculator used in
conjunction with manipulatives
and an attitude which values children's efforts to
learn
is a powerful teaching
package
and as a result Calculating Changes
...
or does it?
...
- Consider the
results of research by Paul Swan and Len Sparrow reported
in:
- Impediments to the Use of
Calculators in the Primary School
- Paul Swan & Len Sparrow
- in
- Mathematics: Creating The
Future
- Australian Association of Mathematics
Teachers, 1997
Survey
- 1995 survey of all schools in Western Australia
- Teachers of Years 1, 3, 5, 7
- Over 1000 responses
Key Question
- Should all students use calculators?
- (The 1987 National Statement on Calculators signed by every
educational authority in Australia had already established that
principle)
- Response: Over three quarters answered "Yes"
- BUT ... "they were not referring to free access to
calculators, but rather limited use as decreed by the teacher" .
For example one teacher commented that the children are allowed to
use it to "check work, complete puzzles and to make words such as
OIL."
Impediments
Swan and Sparrow identified the following impediments to the
implementation of the National Statement recommendation to integrate
calculator use at all levels:
- availability of calculators
- texts and course documents did not integrate calculator use
- lack of teacher vision about how to use calculators other than
as they are used in industry
- perceiving calculators as a 'new topic' and asking how will I
have the time?
- dominance of written algorithms
- lack of 'ideas sources' for teachers
Where To?
Swan and Sparrow suggested the following key changes needed to
happen if the potential learning value of calculators was to be
achieved:
- development of a whole school policy
- allocating resources for calculators, professional development
and 'ideas sources'
- developing a dialogue between schools and parents to avoid
misunderstandings about calculator use
- encouraging children to develop number sense and make choices
about when to use estimation, mental methods, paper and pencil,
calculator, computer
Next Chapter: Addressing
change