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Re: banning calculators



I'm not sure that if one KNOWS how to do long division that continually practising 8 digits divided by 5 digits makes much sense. I have a particular complaint regarding what I have observed in the curriculum my grandson uses (8th grade - preAlgebra). They continually practice long division problems over and over using divsion problems that are apparently carefully selected to be difficult to do. I can take square roots and do long division by hand, but I wouldn't do it unless forced to do it. The suggestion about estimating seems like a good idea. The problem I see with my grandson is that numbers don't seem to really mean anything to him. He can manipulate and get the right answers but
has no FEEL for what numbers mean. I still see this in some of my calc physics students who can manipulate their TI 83 to do everything but sing, but crank out answers that should be obviously ridiculous without blinking!
James Mackey

Justin Parke wrote:

This reminds me of a conversation I recently had with a retired engineer who went to talk to the head of elementary mathematics for the county in which he lives. He wanted to know if long division is still taught in the elementary schools and how long was typically spent on it. (i.e. do they do division of a 5 digit number by a 4 digit number or only 3 by 2, for example.) His thought was to drastically decrease the amount of time spent practicing an algorithm and use that time to practice estimating what the result of the division *should* be and then confirming that with the calculator. This is similar to the idea that students can do integrals while having little idea of what they mean.

What are your thoughts on cutting instruction on long division in favor of estimation/prediction?

Justin