Lies My Teacher Told Me -
Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong
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Sunday, 21 May 2017
quote [ It turns out there's this much easier thing called the internet. ]
The TI84 is dead; long live the TI84.
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mechavolt said @ 11:36pm GMT on 21st May
The TI-89 was an awesome calculator. I do have a few issues with it:
1) The cost. It's a huge expense, especially for families that don't have a lot of discretionary spending. I remember begging and pleading my parents for one, and I remember them deliberating the cost vs my academic future over the kitchen table.
2) Math classes that required it's use, but didn't use most of the functions. For something that requires a big up front investment, to only have your students use the graphing function is criminal. Is it quicker than hand graphing? Yeah, sure, but if you're only using that function making the calculator a requirement isn't justified.
3) The negative educational consequences. I lucked out and had a teacher who wouldn't let us use the calculator functions until we could prove we could do them by hand first. The other class didn't fare so well, and created a group of children who could solve problems real quick with a calculator, but had almost no insight into the actual math - how the formulas are derived, or why they work the way they do.
mechavolt said @ 11:37pm GMT on 21st May
The TI-8X series were awesome calculators. I do have a few issues with them:
1) The cost. It's a huge expense, especially for families that don't have a lot of discretionary spending. I remember begging and pleading my parents for one, and I remember them deliberating the cost vs my academic future over the kitchen table.
2) Math classes that required it's use, but didn't use most of the functions. For something that requires a big up front investment, to only have your students use the graphing function is criminal. Is it quicker than hand graphing? Yeah, sure, but if you're only using that function making the calculator a requirement isn't justified.
3) The negative educational consequences. I lucked out and had a teacher who wouldn't let us use the calculator functions until we could prove we could do them by hand first. The other class didn't fare so well, and created a group of children who could solve problems real quick with a calculator, but had almost no insight into the actual math - how the formulas are derived, or why they work the way they do.
mechavolt said @ 11:39pm GMT on 21st May
The TI-8X series were awesome calculators. I do have a few issues with them:
1) The cost. It's a huge expense, especially for families that don't have a lot of discretionary spending. I remember begging and pleading my parents for one, and I remember them deliberating the cost vs my academic future over the kitchen table.
2) Math classes that required it's use, but didn't use most of the functions. For something that requires a big up front investment, to only have your students use the graphing function is criminal. Is it quicker than hand graphing? Yeah, sure, but if you're only using that function making the calculator a requirement isn't justified.
3) The negative educational consequences. I lucked out and had a teacher who wouldn't let us use the calculator functions until we could prove we could do them by hand first. The other class didn't fare so well, and created a group of children who could solve problems real quick with a calculator, but had almost no insight into the actual math - how the formulas are derived, or why they work the way they do.
<-- Entry / Current Comment
mechavolt said @ 11:36pm GMT on 21st May
The TI-8X series were awesome calculators. I do have a few issues with them:
1) The cost. It's a huge expense, especially for families that don't have a lot of discretionary spending. I remember begging and pleading my parents for one, and I remember them deliberating the cost vs my academic future over the kitchen table.
2) Math classes that required it's use, but didn't use most of the functions. For something that requires a big up front investment, to only have your students use the graphing function is criminal. Is it quicker than hand graphing? Yeah, sure, but if you're only using that function making the calculator a requirement isn't justified.
3) The negative educational consequences. I lucked out and had a teacher who wouldn't let us use the calculator functions until we could prove we could do them by hand first. The other class didn't fare so well, and created a group of children who could solve problems real quick with a calculator, but had almost no insight into the actual math - how the formulas are derived, or why they work the way they do.
