This paper provides a pragmatic view of efficient use of graphics calculators. Efficiency is described in terms of quick and easy calculation, as debated and evidenced in a Year 12 calculus class. Students' methods of calculation are analysed in terms of the algebraic understanding and technical skills that underpinned them. Patterns in students'…

Mathematics games are often used in the classroom as a reward or warm-up activity before the "real" learning takes place. Many teachers have witnessed how useful games are for tuning-in students to the impending mathematics lesson. However, have teachers considered playing games as the central part of the lesson? This article explores…

This report documents the results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 1992 mathematics assessment and provides comparisons to the findings from a comparable survey conducted in 1990. It serves as a valuable reference volume which presents a diverse array of student, demographic, educational, and background characteristics.…

This document consists of a list of the references on calculators which were collected by the Calculator Information Center prior to June 1979. Included are references which previously appeared on bulletins distributed by the Center, plus articles from newsletters and similar less readily available sources and from non-American sources. Most…

Use of calculators for teaching percent to first-year general mathematics students is explained by addressing such areas as sequence of lessons, teaching/learning problems, calculator errors, and recommended instructional strategies. Teaching concepts independent of calculator usage, not using special percentage keys, and initiating estimation as…

Handheld devices, most familiar to educators today in the form of graphing calculators, are rapidly improving their interface, computational, and communication capabilities. Communication capabilities allow participants to rapidly share mathematical objects among their handhelds, potentially contributing to improved classroom discourse. We have…

This book is a compatible instructional component to any algebra textbook and was developed by University of Hawaii under the Dwight D. Eisenhower Mathematics and Science Education Improvement Act. The tasks align with the content and instructional approach used in daily classes that emphasize standards-based teaching and learning. The tasks…

Handheld computers, sometimes known as PDAs, have been available for purchase since the mid-1990s, as have their handheld relatives, the graphing calculators. It is only in the past few years, however, that these diminutive devices have made their way into K-12 schools in numbers significant enough to allow us to draw conclusions about their…

A plan used successfully in the classroom to introduce pupils in grades one through six to calculators is outlined. It comprises a sequence of activities designed to help teachers have a good start when they take the first steps introducing calculators to students. (MP)

Discusses the simplest three-body problem, known as Euler's problem. The article, intended for students in the undergraduate mathematics and physics curricula, shows how the complex equations for a specific three-body problem can be solved on a small calculator. (HM)

Discusses the use of pocket calculators for the computation of a line by the least-square-fitting method. The method is exemplified with a classical student experiment. (HM)

One teacher's approach to the development of number sense while using calculators is outlined. The relationship between number sense and calculation is discussed. Teaching strategies and two worksheets used in this approach are presented. (CW)

Two students (ages 18 and 20) with moderate mental retardation were taught to use a pocket calculator to make purchases. Progressive time delay and general case programing methods were used. Results indicated that the purchasing behaviors generalized to two untrained community sites and to untrained items and were maintained four weeks after…

Discusses three methods to teach the order of operations to middle school students: (1) asking students to fill in operations in a statement to obtain a given answer; (2) using mnemonics to remember operation order; and (3) having students discover the logic system used by their calculators. (MDH)

Utilizes a computer-generated graph to solve an equation for methods using trigonometric tables or less sophisticated calculators would likely fail because of round-off errors and limitations of the instruments. Discusses how this new technology can be utilized in mathematics instruction. (MDH)