This material is a product of a cooperative project of the Cincinnati Public Schools, the Detroit Public Schools, and CEMREL, Incorporated. The Teaching of Problem Solving (TOPS) project began in the 1980-81 school year under CEMREL's contract with the Basic Skills Improvement Office of the United States Department of Education. The approach used…

Describes ways in which a student might use a programmable calculator to obtain air pollution data for a particular locale and outlines the teacher's role in preparing the Computer Simulated Experimentation. (JR)

Presents a brief description of a study done to assess the impact of the use of calculators during examination, showing that the use of the instruments did play a major role in chemistry grade determination. (EB)

The widespread availability of pocket electronic calculators raises issues with respect to some goals of the current curriculum and with regard to testing practices. (SD)

Thirty-three novices and 33 expert calculator users took a test in which they predicted what number would be in the calculator's display after a sequence of button presses (such as 2 + 3 +). Subjects' answers did not depend on the brand of calculator they actually owned. Simple production systems models were fit to the performance of each subject.…

Ten papers presented at a symposium discuss the array of computerized decision-making aids currently available to farmers and ways to speed up the rate of adoption of computers by agriculturalists. Topics presented include the development of software for agricultural decision-making; the role of programmable calculators and minicomputers in…

As a means of alleviating math anxiety among business students and of improving their business machine skills, Spokane Falls Community College offers a course in which basic business math skills are mastered through the use of desk top calculators. The self-paced course, which accommodates varying student skill levels, requires students to: (1)…

This report surveys many of the recent investigations on calculators and their use in mathematics education. The review notes that the widespread availability of hand-held calculators and their affordability has led to their consideration as a viable tool to aid in mathematics instruction. The studies reviewed suggest that many questions are still…

For many students the present remedial mathematics curriculum is a collection of loosely related, very difficult to understand topics, and many, in consequence, lack the motivation to persist in remedial math courses. Most alternative instructional methods used in these courses fail to convey a sense of the underlying purpose of mathematics and…

The calculator is used to investigate properties and characteristics of certain unary operations. These include how a number is related to the number resulting from a unary operation and the result of two unary operations. A discussion of the calculator algorithm to accomplish a series of unary operations is given. Record sheets to summarize…

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 document provides abstracts of 20 research reports. Topics covered include: children's comprehension of simple story problems; field independence and group instruction; problem-solving competence and memory; spatial visualization and the use of manipulative materials; effects of games on mathematical skills; problem-solving ability and right…

These 18 bulletins list references on the uses of calculators pertinent to education. They were published at intervals to provide teachers and other interested persons with sources of information about calculator activities and research findings. The bulletins focus on several categories of references: (1) articles on instruction with hand-held…

These student worksheets include activities in counting, place value, estimation, the four operations with whole numbers, number patterns, volume, inequalities, decimal equivalents of fractions, and percents, all to be worked with a calculator. (MP)

Five different ways are outlined in which calculators can be used to develop a student's ability: (1) to solve problems which use real-world data; (2) for solving a greater number of standard word problems; (3) for using different approaches to solve problems; (4) for extending problem situations; and (5) for using the calculator in an…