The Calculator Is a Problem-solving Concept Developer

1987 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 48-51
Author(s):  
Margaret Comstock ◽  
Franklin Demana
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Mathematical Concept ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Problem Solving Skills ◽  
Numerical Problem ◽  
Middle School Curriculum ◽  
Pencil And Paper

The hand-held calculator is a powerful problem-solving tool. It can be used to develop concepts and explore mathematical topics. The speed and power of the calculator make more realistic and interesting problems accessible and allow students to work many more problems than possible with pencil and paper. The calculator focuses tudents' attention on mathematical processes. Numerical problem solving form the foundation from which algebraic ideas grow. This art icle give examples of calculator tablebuilding activities suitable for the middle school curriculum that develop problem-solving skills and mathematical concept and span the gap from arithmetic to algebra.

Problem Solving: Tips for Teachers

1987 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 44-45
Author(s):  
Joan Duea ◽  
Earl Ockenga
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Mathematical Concept ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Problem Solving Skills ◽  
Numerical Problem ◽  
Middle School Curriculum ◽  
Pencil And Paper

The hand-held calculator is a powerful problem-solving tool. It can be used to develop concepts and explore mathematical topics. The speed and power of the calculator make more realistic and interesting problems accessible and allow students to work many more problems than possible with pencil and paper. The calculator focuses tudents' attention on mathematical processes. Numerical problem solving form the foundation from which algebraic ideas grow. This art icle give examples of calculator tablebuilding activities suitable for the middle school curriculum that develop problem-solving skills and mathematical concept and span the gap from arithmetic to algebra.

Powers and Patterns: Problem Solving with Calculators

1982 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 42-44
Author(s):  
Glenda Lappan ◽  
Elizabeth Phillips ◽  
M. J. Winter
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Mathematical Concept ◽  
School Mathematics ◽  
Mathematical Idea ◽  
Wide Spread ◽  
Problem Solving Skills ◽  
Problem Solving Strategies ◽  
Paper And Pencil

With the publication of An Agenda for Action: Recommendations for School Mathematics of the 1980s, the NCTM has emphasized its support for helping students to develop and use problem-solving skills. The challenge for the teacher is to provide opportunities for the development of the e skill while teaching mathematical concept that comprise the basic curriculum. With the wide-spread availability of calculators, teachers have a tool that can be used to expand the study of many basic mathematical idea to include the development of problem-solving strategies. Calculations that would be so time consuming as to be impractical if they were done with paper and pencil, can be quickly done with a calculator.

A Problem-solving Approach to Teaching Second-Year Algebra

1990 ◽  
Vol 83 (6) ◽  
pp. 432-435
Author(s):  
Vera Kerekes
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Eighth Grade ◽  
Mathematical Methods ◽  
School Year ◽  
Problem Solving Strategies ◽  
Approach To Teaching ◽  
Second Year ◽  
Systematic List

Problem-solving strategies are important parts of our middle school curriculum. Teaching strategies is an excellent way to help students attack mathematical, as well as other, problems. Such strategies include guessing and checking, simplifying the problem, building a model, developing a systematic list or a chart, working backward, drawing a picture, and looking for a pattern. Our students spend an entire school year in the eighth grade to learn to use these problem- solving strategies to solve problems that would otherwise require sophisticated mathematical tools if they could be solved at all by mathematical methods. This experience promotes the development of intuition and number sense in young students.

On My Mind: New Tricks for Old Dogs

2004 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-7
Author(s):  
Margaret Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
National Science Foundation ◽  
Middle Grades ◽  
Mathematics Curriculum ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Middle School Curriculum ◽  
National Science ◽  
Mathematics In Context ◽  
The Way

One of my favorite far side cartoons features Rex the Wonder Dog. Rex is shown balancing an elaborate array of objects while traversing a tightrope on a unicycle. The caption reads, “High above the hushed crowd, Rex tried to remain focused. Still, he couldn't shake one nagging thought: He was an old dog and this was a new trick.” Maybe that cartoon speaks to you the way it does to me. As one of the developers of the middle-grades curriculum Mathematics in Context (MiC), one of the Standardsbased middle school curriculum projects funded by the National Science Foundation, I have used that cartoon many times to describe to teachers, young and old, how it might feel to be a teacher who is about to implement a mathematics curriculum such as MiC. I can usually tell from the nervous laughter that although they might not be old, they recognize that the new Standards-based curricula will require them as teachers to learn “new tricks.”

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