As I approach my 70th year in physics, let me tell my younger colleagues about my adventures with computation. When I was 14, my father gave me a slide rule because I appeared to be headed toward a career in physics. Since then, I have had experience with many other calculating devices.

As an undergraduate in the 1960s, the author mostly used a slide rule for calculations and a Marchant-brand motor-operated mechanical calculator for statistics. This was after an elementary education replete with learning multiplication tables and taking speed and accuracy tests in arithmetic. Times have changed and assuming even basic calculation…

Discusses the use of calculators as a way of helping people to develop basic math skills. Suggests using calculators to check answers, to perform calculations rather than working them out on paper, and as a tool to accelerate learning. (JOW)

In order to stimulate further discussion, this article addresses issues concerning calculator use in elementary school mathematics such as: Is computation still important in elementary school? How would a calculator-driven curriculum look? When is calculator use appropriate? and How should calculators be used? (Author/MKR)

Asserts that graphing calculators give students and teachers the ability to investigate, explore, compare, and discover concepts in a much more comprehensive way than simple calculators or no calculators at all. Offers specific examples that illustrate the advantage of graphing calculators in the Montessori middle school classroom. Lists three…

Explores the myths surrounding the use of calculators in primary school. (Author/CCM)

Why calculators should be used for testing, as well as for instruction, is discussed. The focus of the curriculum would shift from computation to deeper development of concepts and to mathematical modeling. A broader curriculum would result. (MNS)

Use of calculators rather than computers or paper and pencil when calculators can do the job is stressed. When the use of calculators is more appropriate is indicated. (MNS)

Discusses the notion of variables in computer algebra, mathematics, and science. Central are the questions of how variables are actually used in mathematics and science, how computer algebra supports the various uses of variables, what conceptual differences exist, and what consequences follow from this for teaching, learning, and doing…

Discussed are the difficulties that entering college freshmen seem to have with mathematics, particularly with fractional forms. A success-oriented program is suggested in which all students are successful. To obtain this goal, a number of alternative routes are discussed such as presenting decimals before fractional forms and the use of the…

Describes the development of computers and calculators, noting intitial resistance to and later acceptance of calculators in the classroom. Advocates teaching children to perform simple calculations and stresses estimation skills over speed and accuracy for doing long, complicated computations. Includes recommendations for classroom calculator use…

Discusses the overuse of calculators in mathematics classrooms. Argues that the sole purpose of teaching mathematics is for thinking and discipline and these goals cannot be obtained when using calculators. (ASK)

Discusses the history of different methods of representing numbers and how these representations facilitated counting and computing devices such as the abacus. (MDH)

Presents reasons for students' use of calculators in math class and techniques for encouraging their optimal use. Many educators suggest that calculators free students from concentration on computation and enable them to concentrate on problem solving. The article includes product information. (SM)

Despite numerous recommendations, little has been done to integrate calculator use into elementary school classrooms. Cost, equal access, and the existence of computers are not obstacles to calculator use: our attitudes and beliefs are. What must be done to integrate calculators into the curriculum is outlined. (MNS)