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In a message dated 6/5/03 11:40:06 PM, bunsofaluminum60@... writes:

<< With a calculator, kids

> > aren't learning how to do the math."

>

> With calculators to do the computations, we are freed to learn how

to

> do the math.

>

> Number crunching is NOT math. >>

Yea..... Don't you need to know **how** to do the math with a calculator so
you can push the right buttons? Memorizing numbers is not the same as
***how*** to do it.

Lara......... who still does NOT know her times-tables (and loves her
calculator), but knows **what** multiplication is!! (Hey!!! I went to pub school for
12 years and graduated with high honors, AND had a dad who stood over me a
hit me on the head when I said the wrong answer to the times-table flash cards
he was holding; shouldn't I know all of them then? hehehe)

Heidi

> Lara......... who still does NOT know her times-tables (and loves
her
> calculator), but knows **what** multiplication is!! (Hey!!! I went
to pub school for
> 12 years and graduated with high honors, AND had a dad who stood
over me a
> hit me on the head when I said the wrong answer to the times-table
flash cards
> he was holding; shouldn't I know all of them then? hehehe)

This was a discussion I had with a friend, about the fact that I
never learned all my times tables in school, though I fretted and
fussed and REALLY WANTED to know them. We had timed drills, and I
wanted to win the contest, but I still didn't learn em all until
Robby started learning his times tables five years ago...in my late
30's. Didn't NEED my times tables, much, until then. I know them all
now, and didn't have to "memorize" them...Robby and I just filled in
a multiplication table, and I had the whole thing.

One of the things, btw, that convinces me that, when it is needed,
the learning will happen. It's THE WAY WE LEARN THINGS!!!!!

HeidiC

Robin Clevenger

> From: Laramike12@...
> > Number crunching is NOT math. >>
>
> Yea..... Don't you need to know **how** to do the math with a calculator
so
> you can push the right buttons? Memorizing numbers is not the same as
> ***how*** to do it.
>
> Lara......... who still does NOT know her times-tables (and loves her
> calculator), but knows **what** multiplication is!! (Hey!!! I went to pub
school for
> 12 years and graduated with high honors, AND had a dad who stood over me
a
> hit me on the head when I said the wrong answer to the times-table flash
cards
> he was holding; shouldn't I know all of them then? hehehe)


Funny! (well, not the part about him hitting you over the head)
On the other hand, my dad was so fascinated when calculators came out that
he payed some inordinate amount of money for one (then remember how cheap
they got just a couple of years later). I used one all the time as a kid (I
can still see the denim calculator cover I had and the Texas Instruments
logo) and I can do number crunching faster in my head than anyone I know.
Sometimes for kicks I race DH when he's using the calculator to figure
something out and I can usually beat him.
Both of my kids have calculators. They love to use them and when they're
fooling around with them it almost always sparks some interesting
discussions about number and number principles. With my youngest, it's
usually just that she can push and identify the numbers. With my son (6), he
has discovered all kinds of things by using the calculator. Like when you
multiply an even number and an odd number, you always get an even number,
but when you add an even number to an odd number, you always get an odd
number. I think calculators can really allow kids to see things like bigger
patterns that they might not get to see if they just sat down with paper and
pen. Also, they let my kids work with numbers bigger than they could
personally add/subtract/mutiply/divide on their own, so they get to see
patterns with bigger numbers as well. Like the fact that when you multiply
something by a multiple of 10, you get the same number but with
correspondingly more zeros on the end.
I dunno, I love to do math in my head all the time, and I think owning a
calculator as a kid helped to fuel that.


Blue Skies!
-Robin-