Calculator

I am only a parent, but my response would be go with your gut feelings on this.

I’ve been told that the only way to get the times tables down is, unfortunately, by memorization.

My son has some significant deficits in this area and I honestly do not know “when” he will actually memorize them.

Here’s the problem I see with NOT letting him use a calculator. Until he memorizes all of the tables, he will continually get the answers wrong. Does this help him? No, it only reinforces the wrong answers. I would rather him use the calculator and hopefully the PROPER answer will sink in. My thought is eventually he will no longer need the calculator because he will have learned the tables by seeing them correctly over and over and over again.

This summer, I went to see the Lindamood-Bell clinic and the simplest thing struck me. The director was showing me the math flashcards they use and they have the answers on the front (ex: 8 x 2 = 16). She explained that it is a fruitless effort to make a child “guess” the answer (via traditional flash cards) when they are trying to “learn” the facts. LMB method is that they learn to visualize the problem and the answer together making it far easier for anyone (especially LD) to learn them properly. I THOUGHT THIS WAS GENIUS!

So, I am all for the calculator! But as with everything else, I’m sure there is a valid counterpoint to my belief.

Hopefully Victoria will post for you. She always has great advice especially regarding math and reading.

If you think she would benefit from it, I say go for it!!!!

thanks lulu, those are good tips!

It was a post of Victoria that got me thinking about this subject and wondering how to apply it to a grade 7 curriculum…..this is her original post.

“I teach advanced math, as few people on this board do, and unfortunately many people don’t see what a real worthwhile math class is all about….

allowing a calculator or an open book on a closed book exam would completely undermine the whole point. There are areas where calculators are allowed or even required (ask me about the funny story on that one some time). There are areas where open or closed book makes no difference. But there are other areas where yolu are specifically testing knowledge, and a closed book test is given for a reason.

For example in algebra or calculus there are certian “classic” problem-solving techniques which a student must master. There are several examples of these techniques in any decent text. So if I give a test and clearly announce to the class that they are to learn techniques A. B, and C, the whole point of the test is to give three problems and see if the students apply the correct technique. Give one student this test open book, and if she is at all intelligent she’ll open the chapter and copy the model (True, I’ve had many who didn’t do even that. but that is another story.) Now, I am not interested in wasting my time and hers by having her copy a model and me marking her copy — total waste of time”

I think your comments are right on target. You want to keep the student moving in math ideas and not stalled due to poor memorization skills.

Also, having that accommodation every day affords the student the same accommodation on state-wide or high-stakes testing. That is important to truly understand where your child is in the learning sequence of mathematics.

One “danger” in using the calculator is that kids will let it do all of the work for them. E.g. 256X155— the kid needs to know how to set up the problem, which numbers to multiply first, where to write the answer… I found it better to have them use a times table where they could find the answer to 6x5, but not instantly get the answer to the whole problem.

I’m just a parent too, but this is my feeling, for a child who is struggling in math and will probably never go on to algebra or the higher maths. Why let them work problems wrong because they have never been able to memorize the math facts. I say…..give them a caculator and teach them how to work the problems on it.
You’ll be able to have a caculator the rest of your life, so learn how to use it. I worked in a bank for 8 years,everything I knew about math was soon forgotten, because we used a caculator everyday. My advice……don’t sweat the small stuff!

Lulu,

Have you seen the book “Multiplication the Fun Way”? My son had trouble memorizing his math facts and this book really helped. It helps kids memorize the facts by presenting a strong visual image, coupled with a funny story to help fix them in the child’s mind. I found the book at Amazon.

Andrea

as a parent i like to know my child has worked some for the grade, i do not think accomadating her would enable her to work out the problem, however if the area of memory in figures is the problem i believe allowing a times table would be benificial. so for example the child would set up the problem and have access to individual answers like 5X5= 25 not the total answer 125X125= 15625. also the accomadation of adding wrong could be added, (if the child places numarically in order but makes an error in addition this should not be counted wrong. it should be seen as a qualified attempt, my daughter has a sheet available to her for math equasions, ie from 1 through 12 (x) she does not have it pasted to her desk but is allowed to use it if needed. i agree with teaching the whole problem answers and all, in giving the answers via calculator is not educating them but in fact inhibiting a possible knowledge.

I think you ALWAYS have excellent advice!!!

And you always seem to sum up what I’m trying to say much more eloquently. Your statement about not getting stalled out over memorization problems is exactly what I was trying to say. Thanks

Get a chart with the answers on it. (THere’s one in the math section of my site at www.resourceroom.net for the times tables.)

Giving students calculators to do problems they don’t really understand (and I see it a fair amount) is pretty much a waste of time. THe problems you do in life aren’t organized by chapters so that the same kinds of problems all come together.
If you are just going to forget it anyway and “never go on to higher math” — then you should REALLY forget it and not waste the time with teh math class PERIOD. I don’t think that should be done — I see ‘way too many people decide they must be too stupid for math and just stop doing it. But since these ‘oh, you can’t do it so just use the calculator” exercises do a grand job of hammering in that “you can’t do math” idea, then it’s better not to do it at all.
There are *some* teachers who can set things up so that a student can use the calculator and have to understand the stuff. MOst texts are *not* engineered that way, though.

Hmmm, my grandmother and my elderly Grade 3 teacher used cards or posters with question and answer included, and I’ve been recomending the tactic here for the past year — LMB does have some good stuff, just please remember they didn’t discover fire and invent the wheel. This is good classic teaching, and go for it.
The cards without the answer are TEST cards, and you test AFTER you have taught and the student has enough mastery to make it a worthwhile challenge.

As far as calculators, Grade 7 is on the borderline. Elementary school work is mostly computation-driven so having a calculator means you may be evading learning the methodology. In junior high school you meet pre-algebra and hopefully in a good class lots of practical problem-solving; at this level what counts is figuring out HOW to solve the problem, not the nitty-gritty of computation; calculators are recommended or even required once you get into serious algebra and science.
If the class is reviewing fraction arithmetic — and skill in the METHODS of finding equivalent fractions, measuring distances on a number line, adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing fractions is a 90% predictor of later skill in algebra, where you do these same operations but with letters rather than numbers so the calculator won’t help — then a simple dollar-store calculator that does the four whole-number operations would be useful as a backup for tables, but don’t get one that will do the fraction calculatioons because it will uindermine learning the methodology. If the class is reviewing decimals, a calculator can undermine the methodology; how about a written copy of the tables (type on one sheet of paper in nice table form and laminate for reference)?

Once you get into real algebra, go whole-hog and invest in the TI-86 graphing calculator with a screen. Schools recommend the 83, but for a few dollars more you can get the 86 which does everything but slice bread. (or whatever models they have updated to by that time). The nice thing about these is that you can see on the screen everything you did, and you type things in in the same order you write them (with parentheses.) This is a huge advantage over cheap calculators which hide the work once you’ve typed it, making it impossible to proofread for typos or correct faulty logic, and which require a whole course in order of operations to get the right answer. The 86 is actually easier and more logical to use, and more educational, than the “simple” cheapo.
You can read the 86 manual and learn how to do all manner of complicated things, and to program in things that you need.

A nice laminated chart for the basic facts is a good thing for a memory problem and a reasonable accommodation. I recomended this above if needed. Certainly you don’t need a calculator for that.

However it’s quicker and easier to memorize if you possibly can — a hundred hours of work this year — and a lifetime of knowing how much your change should be on the subway and the Garden State Parkway, whether you can afford both steak and wine in the nice restaurant, how much it will take to get the whole family into Disney World with a line of thousands of impatient people behind you — alll places where you would really prefer not to have to pull out a machine or count on your fingers. Really work on the memory and try not to give up too soon.

Even if you DO use a calculator, the number of typos that crops up is amazing. One very important reason to learn basic number facts is to develop what is caled “number sense” — the ability to say “No, that answer can’t possibly be right!!” when the calculator spews it out. I tutor advanced math, and just getting my students to proofread their work (like pulling teeth, after they’ve had twelve years of pressure for fast guessing) can often increase their scores by a letter grade level. As I noted above, when you do go for a calculator, opt for the TI 86 with a screen, so you can see what you’ve done and type it in order. Worth every penny (and I bought three of them for a high-schooler with an organizational problem.)

I usually feel kind of bad poking my way into a thread addressed to someone else…just being polite in my rudeness :-)