Many students want to enroll in programming courses but fear the challenges ahead. They aspire to design quality systems or games after acquiring related skills but report concerns that programming logic is too difficult to learn because memorization of the syntax is required. Thus, they experience anxiety, are demotivated to learn, and,…

As one of the core skills of the 21st century, computational thinking has received increasing attention from educators and researchers. Although some research has been conducted on computational thinking, few studies examined the impact of learning activities on students' computation thinking skills from the perspective of cognitive development.…

An activity for secondary schools is presented and discussed which may be explored with a programmable calculator. The activity is non-standard and could not be easily explored without the use of a programmable calculator. Related activities are also discussed. Flow charts and programs for different programmable calculators are presented. (MP)

A problem-solving network (flow chart) constructed for use in calculating titration is described. Points out that use of the network has greatly improved student confidence and skill in performing these calculations. (Author/JN)

The application of the programmable calculator to evaluating complicated formulas is illustrated by considering the formula for finding the area of any triangle when only the lengths of the three sides are known. Other advantages of the programmable calculator are discussed such as freeing the student to explore more challenging problems and…

This experiment was conducted to determine the efficiency of three forms of an algorithm of known effectiveness and the effects of its availability following initial instruction. The dependent variable was time to solve computational problems requiring rule application. The algorithm was presented in three forms: prose, flowchart, and gradual…

The message of this article is that there are many types of problems ordinarily requiring advanced techniques or special insight to solve which can now be done as simple programming exercises on inexpensive programmable calculators. Several examples appropriate for the secondary school curriculum are given. These are: (1) evaluating polynomials;…

A problem from number theory is used to illustrate the use of the computer and programable calculators in solving problems. Programs are included. (MP)

This compilation is drawn from the IDEAS section that has been a feature of the "Arithmetic Teacher" since 1971. The contents are arranged in the following categories: Computation, Fractions and Decimals, Developing Number Patterns, Using Flowcharts, Problem Solving, Geometry, and Metric Measure. All selections are reprinted just as they…