Digital Storytelling
Please visit the South East Grid for Learning (SEGfL) website to read my article.
Please visit the South East Grid for Learning (SEGfL) website to read my article.
Once again I read that a government minister wants to ban the use of calculators in primary schools in the mistaken belief that this will raise standards. When will they learn that this argument is not binary? It's not a question of use them for every little thing or don't use them at all.
So what's the point of calculators in a primary classroom? We need to undertand that no one reaches for a calculator when they can calculate the answer themselves. The idea defies common sense. We need our learners to be the best they can be, to achieve on mental tiptoe. If they are then they need to be able to decide with accuracy when a mental calculation will suffice, when to reach for a pencil and paper and when to call for a calculator.
When used appropriately like this and not as the crutch the minister imagines calculators bring other benefits. They allow access to areas of mathematics that would otherwise be beyond a learner's reach and can be a learning tool to enhance those very mental skills that poiticians are so quick to assume they replace.
They even demand an increase in mathematical capabilty in order that they be used effectively. The skill of estimation and other checking skills become vital so that an answer is not accepted at face value.
