Quote:
Originally Posted by Velvet
Yes, because of how you, OBB, used it. I taught my students how to calculate the answer and the only thing the calculator was used for was to check if their answer was correct. In grades one and two, addition and subtraction can be taught the same way (with beautiful large kindergarten calculators). However, I have to admit that in later grades I never memorized, say the logarithmic tables.
I think what you say is interesting. I taught many children successfully, but I could not get my own daughter to learn. She was simply not interested. In grades 10 she was still working at grade 3 math level. But, then, she got a job later where she needed to apply higher math skills. She loved her work and was determined to do it. She hired her own private tutor and went through each year of math she missed so that she could do her job. Finally, she had the motivation.
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It's a matter of brain wiring. Some people (such as myself) are visual and verbal thinkers. Numeric concepts don't really mean anything to us. We need to see those concepts applied to something tangible, or it goes right over our heads. Now, years later thanks to my dad and my computer programming class, I can spit out percentages without really thinking about them much at all. You give me a bunch of numbers, and I can figure out an approximate average within a few seconds, no calculator, pen or paper needed. I won't always be spot-on but I'll be pretty close to correct. I can now do it in my head. It is a visual process in my head. I imagine the numbers, I imagine writing it on paper, I imagine doing the "long math" and "long division." But it happens instantly. Because I learned the MEANING of the numbers, how they fit into the universe and their significance.
It's why, to me, kids who can't count change back should sue their teachers and their parents for not teaching them. If the total at check-out is $14.29 and you pull out a $20 bill and they plug in $20 on their cash register and open the drawer - then you say "oh wait I have four pennies!" they have no idea what they're supposed to do with that information. Their cash register has already instructed them to give them $5.71, and they've already pulled out the change (yes, I did that in my head too). You tell them you wanted quarters, not dimes. And that confuses them even more. So you have to tell them:
Subtract 4 from $14.29, since I just gave you the 4 pennies. That makes it $14.25. I give you a $20. Give me 3 quarters to make $15, and then another $5 to make $20. I mean HOW HARD IS THIS?
It's hard for them because they were never taught how to COUNT. Simple math, simple addition and subtraction. They have absolutely no idea how to do it. You can thank calculators for that.