The Great Calculator Debate

For many years, educators have disagreed over the place of calculators in the classroom. There are those who feel that they are a necessary part of the modern maths curriculum, while others believe that students come to rely on them unnecessarily for basic calculations. As a parent of a child studying maths, here’s what you need to know about the great calculator debate:

The benefits of calculators in the classroom

Calculators are convenient and accurate
The modern classroom embraces technology. Students download textbooks to their laptops, use the internet to research assignments and submit homework via email. One day, they will work in a world that requires them to understand how to use technology, so banning calculators from the maths classroom seems counterintuitive.
All this technology, calculators included, is intended to make learning easier. After all, using a calculator may be quicker and easier than relying on pen and paper to solve a mathematical equation.

Calculators are also more likely to produce accurate results. Students can use a calculator to check their work and if the answers don’t match, it’s easier for them to determine where they went wrong. Used in this manner, calculators can be a helpful tool for both students and teachers.

Calculators make maths fun
It’s no secret that many students consider maths to be a dull subject. By making calculators part of the learning process, teachers can introduce an element of fun to their subject. Learning how to use all the functions that modern calculators offer will make it a little easier for students who battle with maths to cope with more the more complicated parts of the syllabus.

The disadvantages of calculators in the classroom

Calculators make students lazy
Some educators feel that students shouldn’t rely on a calculator to do simple sums such as adding, subtracting, multiplying or dividing numbers. They’re concerned that students will become lazy and lose the ability to solve problems without relying on a machine. These are the basic skills that students need to develop a firm foundation as they study maths further. Some tertiary fields of study, like engineering and qauntity surveying, require the student to solve difficult problems without the use of a calculator.

Calculators can’t teach critical thinking
Of those that oppose the use of calculators in the classroom, their biggest complaint is that it cannot demonstrate the reasoning behind a calculation. It’s not enough for a maths student to know which buttons to push to get the right answer. They must understand the process and, most importantly, they must be able to apply logic and reasoning when working out a solution. For example, using a calculator to perform long division may give a student the right answer, but it won’t help them understand how the calculator arrived at it.
 
Striking a balance
Fortunately, most educators understand that it’s not necessary to pick a side in this debate. It is possible for students to use a calculator without becoming dependant on it. There’s also no need for maths students to lose out on the mental discipline and logical reasoning benefits of studying maths.
At ABC Maths and Science, we believe that the real key to mastering maths is practise. Our range of extra exercises in electronic format is designed to align with the curriculum and help students from Grade 1 to Grade 12 develop the skills they need to succeed at Mathematics, Mathematical literacy and Physical Science.


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