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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.Hi mimififi!
The school I went to did not allow the use of calculators until we started doing advanced algebra. We were encouraged to carry out all calculations on the paper and cutting them short used to cost us marks.
At the time I was very vocal about it being a useless exercise especially when I could do the sums in my head. Now, however, I see the reason behind it. Not only does it develop attention to detail and structure to problem solving but it also gives you a way of easily locating a potential mistake, rather than doing the entire calculation all over again.
In my opinion you should carry on with things the way they are. Get her to do and write down the calculations first and then check the answer doing it on the calculator. That will become a routine and make things a lot easier once they go into quadratic equations and such.
Keep up the good work.
S.
I agree with the idea of using a caculator but checking if the answer is sensible.
Are you giving her too many long excersises to do? When I was taking A level maths we had a teacher who said "do as many as you need to" and we had the answers in the back of the book, so once we were sure we were getting them right there was no need to go on. (At her age you would have to decide how much was enough)
Do you give her excercises in approximation?
e.g true or false 20x30>100
Which is nearer to 31x29, 60,900, or 1,200
It's important to be moderately competant at mental maths but when you've attained a certain capacity you have to think about why you want to hone the skill.
I used to work as a physicist at the atomic energy authority and neither I nor any of my colleagues would do a significant amount of mental maths unless playing darts or calculating a bar bill!
Up to secondary school children don't really seem to do any significant maths - it's all arithmetic. They seem to start to do some maths after that and it would be a shame to waste time that could be spent introducing really important concepts like algebra in trying to get an improvement from 95%
My brief tup'pence worth is that I was not allowed a calculator until I could prove I didn't need one. Now I can instinctively look at numbers and know whether they are right or wrong (not neceesarily why, without checking) which is a very useful skill. Once you have proved something, how many times do you need to prove it again?
Hello Mimi I didn't know you kisd were home ed, ours are as well:)
With maths as soon as the concept is grasped and set instone and they are absolutely clear on HOW to do it and are getting it consistantly right then we let them use calculators.I'm fussy that they keep up their mental agility with numbers though but I do think it's safe enough if your kid is strong in maths to cut out the slog for them so I agree with your husband:)
I think that if she's now reasonably competant at mental arithmetic it's probably getting time to move on.
Maths is so much more than adding subtracting multiplying and dividing.
Time to think about algebra: x is a mystery number if x+1 is 3 what is x?
Time to look at geometry, with a protractor - what do the internal angles of a triangle add up to?
Time to start drawing graphs and plotting lines. X and Y axies etc.
These things are really important for engineering, computer programming, financial planning infact any numerate discipline. Arithmetic is the nuts and bolts of maths not maths itself.
I think a lot of kids have a slight drop off in mental maths when they stop practicing and move on to bigger and better things but that's to be expected - remember you're probably not trying to bring up the perfect barmaid!
If maths is a bit dull you and she might enjoy this book
Since intelligence isn't know the answers but knowing where and how to find the answers, then I see no reason not to allow your daughter to use a calculator, since she understands the concepts.
An ex teacher of mine said that if everyone were allowed to take anything into the exam with them the only difference would be the average mark would go up, the actual rank of personal marks would keep the same order. As a class we disagreed, but we tried it and he was correct. We wondered how this could be so. His logic ,as ever, was ingenious.The people who need to use crib aids won't know how to use them, and those who know how to use them, won't need them!
So even he would agrre, if she understand the concepts she is dealing with, a calculator is purely checking the answer not detracting from mathematics,
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