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[Phys-L] Re: Calculators a Distraction?



I straddle the fence on this issue, John D's point about showing work is
of course the significant point. However, with a calculator-free
testing situation, you can be more sure that what you are seeing on the
students paper is their work. I don't think student lack of ability at
taking square roots or doing long division is a serious impediment.
Either make the test symbolic (which forces the learning of important
skills) or make the arithmetic parts very easy; I think today's students
can be expected to find the square root of 9 or 16 in their head. And
to take 8 and divide by 2 in their head.

|
| I've been racking my brain, trying to think of a real-world
| scenario where somebody would need to do division, without
| having easy access to a calculator. I haven't come up with
| any. The only times I've done long division recently is when
| I was teaching the subject!

I don't dispute the above, but I believe it is a bit of straw man. The
purpose of an hour long test isn't to replicate a real world situation
or problem. A typical test does many things, some directly related to
learning material and others related to the learning and acquisition of
other skills; which is not entirely inappropriate. E.g. ability to
follow directions, write neatly and I'm sure you can think of a lot
more. It also provides some indication of the learning of concepts, of
learning how to apply relevant mathematics, familiarity with the
material and so forth and so on.

Some of this is related to real world situations or problems, but it is
for from isomorphic to them and is even orthogonal in part. We have
things like portfolios, or semester project that more closely resemble
real world problems, and who here would ban calculators on such
projects. (Of course, there is the Master's thesis or PhD Dissertation,
which is probably the closest thing to being isomorphic that there is in
education.

Consequently when a student says that this isn't going to happen in a
real world situation, consider it non-sequitor argument. It may be a
valid or not a valid reason for or against doing something in the
artificial environment of a timed test situation. IMO, it doesn't pass
muster. There have been several successful teachers here who follow a
no calculator policy. I am not one of them, but I believe it can be a
legitimate approach to take.

I don't think there is any "right" answer to this question.

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As a sub-note: In my intro class I've finally trained a few of my
students, to at least tell me if they hit the integrate button on their
calculator to get the correct symbolic result. Naturally, the hard part
for most students is setting up the integral in the first place.

To get full credit that must be enough stuff in their answer to
distinguish it from someone who just copied the correct answer off of a
neighbors sheet.