I just had an interesting exchange with a student that has prompted my rumination on the topic of calculators. In summary, he had thought that it was my own perversity that students aren't allowed to use calculators on their exams. I assured him that it was a department-wide standard, excepting the more advanced classes that use MatLab or the like. He had also mentioned that he had discussed it with his mother, who is also a math teacher.
It makes me wonder where this reliance on calculators really comes from. Admittedly, lots of students have trouble with arithmetic. But I feel like it's because they rely on calculators so much.
1 week ago
