Calculator

=A Tool of Mathematical Learning=

Many teachers have tools in the classroom to further learning, such as dictionaries and whiteboards. In mathematics, learning tools often include the rulers and the manipulatives and possibly the hundreds or multiplication chart at the front of the room. I believe that a powerful classroom mathematics tool in the calculator. I do not view the calculator as only for students in upper elementary grades. I wish that teachers would teach students how to use the calculator as a tool not the authority in the classroom. Calculators have great potential to help students verify answers and to understand arithmetic steps and calculations. They are an incredible time saver and a common feature. Even cell phones today have a calculator. I know that there is a tendency for people to think that if we use calculators that the students will become dependent on them. I do not think this is necessarily the case. We do not freak out when a student goes to the cupboard where the dictionaries are kept, retrieves a dictionary, and then continues to write. Why then do we insist that students not become acquainted with the tools of mathematics.