Interesting Quote

I came across an article while working on my inquiry project on calculators entitled Reform, Tradition, and Synthesis by Thomas W. Tucker. I also discuss this in my conclusion, but I would like to comment on something he says when talking about technology. He says:

It pays to heed history: Technology always wins. The world may have been better when people walked instead of driving cars, but that is irrelevant. As long as there is gas, people will drive cars, and what I really care about is that they drive them sensibly. The mathematical world may have been better when people did arithmetic or graphed functions on paper on in their head instead of on a calculator, but that is irrelevant. As long as there are batteries, students will use calculators, and what I really care about is that they use them sensibly (p. 910).

This is such an important statement that I had not thought about before working on my inquiry project. Starting out, I was making calculators out to be the bad guy, but I was wrong. Calculators are an aid to mathematics (if used properly), not a replacement for skills and your brain. Tucker makes a very valid remark when he claims that technology always wins. He's right, where have we ever seen an instant where technology was tossed to the way side? Cars, computers, cell phone, IPODs and calculators are all pieces of technology that will never go away, we just have to learn to use them and incorporate them into our classrooms. Yes, that`s right, I said cell phones! Even cell phones can be incorporated (educationally!) into the classroom. When we say that we want students to use their schooling outside of the classroom, then why are we prohibiting the items that they use outside of the classroom? Something to think about!

My inquiry project: calculatoruseinmath.weebly.com/

References:

Tuckers, T.W. (1999). Reform, tradition, and synthesis. The American Mathematical Monthly, 106(10). 910-914.