Comment Re:How are you teaching your class? (Score 1) 309
As a current Calculus teacher, I say "bravo."
A good math teacher embraces technology for its good points and uses it when appropriate, not constantly. When the College Board chose to allow the use of calculators on the AP test, it was because the colleges saw the need for it and requested it. The test is specifically designed to be half calculator, half non-calculator, in order to put all testers on an even playing field. All of the other good Calculus teachers I know construct their tests the same way.
Math cannot be made applicable without the use of technology (ie. "life does not come out even"), but it cannot completely depend on technology either. I was a AP Calculus student BC (before calculators), and I am now teaching with them. The application problems are so much better now because we do not have to work with contrived problems that have pretty answers because we do not want to become bogged down in the number crunching. Find a happy medium, folks! Banning then outright is not the solution; neither is full-scale usage. There is a balance - teachers just need to find it.
A good math teacher embraces technology for its good points and uses it when appropriate, not constantly. When the College Board chose to allow the use of calculators on the AP test, it was because the colleges saw the need for it and requested it. The test is specifically designed to be half calculator, half non-calculator, in order to put all testers on an even playing field. All of the other good Calculus teachers I know construct their tests the same way.
Math cannot be made applicable without the use of technology (ie. "life does not come out even"), but it cannot completely depend on technology either. I was a AP Calculus student BC (before calculators), and I am now teaching with them. The application problems are so much better now because we do not have to work with contrived problems that have pretty answers because we do not want to become bogged down in the number crunching. Find a happy medium, folks! Banning then outright is not the solution; neither is full-scale usage. There is a balance - teachers just need to find it.
