This literature review examines calculators in the primary school classroom in light of their recent prohibition for younger children in England. Contrary to political fears about calculators being harmful, the existing literature indicates that calculators have many benefits: they can develop conceptual understanding, support and improve mental…

Derivation of the law of radioactive decay is considered without prior knowledge of calculus or the exponential series. Calculus notation and exponential functions are used because ultimately they cannot be avoided, but they are introduced in a simple way and explained as needed. (Contains 10 figures, 1 box, and 1 table.)

This document presents a review of evidence commissioned by the Education Endowment Foundation to inform the guidance document "Improving Mathematics in Key Stages Two and Three" (Education Endowment Foundation, 2017). The review draws on a substantial parallel study by the same research team, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, which…

Assesses the status and use of the hand-held calculator in the current school curriculum. Comments on current proposals to restrict its use in the examination room at A-level. Concludes that at the stage of A-level mathematics, calculations that are not practicable without calculating aids cannot be avoided without indefensible contrivance.…

Responses from 327 of 340 English secondary students identified the following 2 factors associated with preference for using/not using calculators: (1) degree of enjoyment of number work and confidence in calculation; and (2) degree of skepticism about the legitimacy of calculators or lack of confidence in using them. Primary schools had great…

Investigated the long-term influence of a longitudinal calculator awareness approach to numbers on British elementary students' mathematical achievements and attitudes. Teacher and student interviews and student test scores from intervention and nonintervention schools indicated that the curriculum had no substantial long-term influence on…

Examines the idea that the arithmetic calculator can act as a cognitive tool, supporting the amplification or reorganization of systems of thought. Examples were found in which use of the calculator helped pupils work with unusual problem representations and adapt solution strategies in which they focused on planning and monitoring computations…

The effect of the use of hand-held calculators on the arithmetic curriculum is explored. (SD)

This report presents 23 papers prepared for the first Anglo-Soviet Seminar on Mathematics Education, held in Oxford in September 1981. Ten leading British mathematics educators met with six Soviet participants for an intensive program of information sharing and discussion which covered the teaching and learning of mathematics at all school levels.…

This collection of 10 papers aims to provide teachers at all levels with ideas on a number of important aspects of mathematics education. The Report of the Committee on Inquiry into the Teaching of Mathematics (Cockcroft Report) has provoked wide discussion in England, and the papers examine some contemporary issues in school mathematics in light…

This document summarizes "Mathematics Counts," the report of the Committee of Inquiry into the Teaching of Mathematics in Schools in Great Britain, chaired by Dr. W. H. Cockcroft. It provides a digest of the report, paralleling the following chapters: (1) why teach mathematics? (2) the mathematical needs of adult life, (3) the…