Re: TI-95... Physics Tool?

[inet@intellisys.net (brian whatcott)]

At 04:45 PM 4/22/97 +0000, David Simmons wrote:
> Learned colleagues:
>
> My principal has some money to spend on technology and has proposed 
> buying a classroom set of TI-92 calculators to be available for math and 
> science classes. A few of my students already own them, but, quite 
> frankly, I'm still working on developing more uses for the TI-81 ...85 
> calculators in my physics classes.
>
> He wants to know if I'm in favor of this move, or should the money be 
> spent elsewhere. What do you all think? Are you using the 95s yet? Would 
> I *love* having a set available to me on occasion?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Dave
> -- 
> *	David Simmons	St. John's Jesuit High School	*
> *	5901 Airport Hwy	Toledo OH 43615		*
> *		<dsimmon@uoft02.utoledo.edu>		*
I don't claim to be a learned colleague, but I don't recall much discussion 
of your predicament.
I am a daily user of computers who find it necessary to have a calculator 
stationed at each keyboard that I use. One of them is a twenty year old CBM 
scientific model, and another is a TI-60.

You will gather that they (my calculators) do not represent the cutting edge.
Lest you think me a luddite, I should mention that my fast machine is an IBM 
risc6000 with 128 MByte memory, 2.2 Gb disks x5   blah, blah, blah....

Here is my take:
If your students have a half way reasonable personal calculator, that's enough.
Do they have personal access to experimental materials? Science is not Math,
despite the broad swathe of territory covered by mathematical physics.

Are there balances, burners, wet sinks?
Are there materials to consume?
Magnesium ribbon, sodium, capacitors, inductors, transistors, resistors?
 How about instrumentation: geiger counter, densitometer, spectrometer,
laser, plasma, arc, spark source....?

Regards
brian whatcott <inet@intellisys.net>
Altus OK