Monday, February 22, 2010

Why I don't let students use calculators

I don't teach math, but in my classes students need to use some basic math to analyze the data they collect. I was horrified a couple years ago when I had students pulling out their calculators to divide 0.05 by 5. I forced them all to put the calculators away and do it by hand. I must admit, however, that I have been a little more lax in doing the problems "properly" (i.e. keeping track of units as well as numbers) than my high school chemistry teacher would have advised. I have just assumed the students knew what the units should be. After watching this on youtube, I will never make that assumption again. I will insist that they show their work...all their work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2isSJKntbg&NR=1

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