I understand about the calculators now

[Cadam]

I could never understand why the school was teaching elementary kids to use calculators.

I have a new sil that is an elementary school teacher. She agrees with me on the horror that is TERC investigations but when I spoke to her about the calculator use she said that she would still want to teach calculators to her classroom because they use them on the state tests.

Ultimately, this trend of kids who can't do basic functions w/o a calculator, is the fault of some legislator and how they wrote the testing laws for our state. If the tests were changed, then the requirements and "benchmarks" would be changed and then the curriculum would be changed to fit the benchmarks and therefore tests.

Why oh, why do bureaucrats keep getting in the way of education!!!!

Even if my dd wasn't there, all of the other children in my community are. These are future adults who are suffering. Not to mention the teachers who have to deal with all of these terrible resources.

[Snickerdoodle]

Christina,
It reminds me of what this educator (http://jd2718.wordpress.com/2010/06/22/worst-math-regents-questions-of-june-2010/)wrote on his blog:

Integrated Geometry, 6
A right circular cylinder has an altitude of 11 feet and a radius of 5 feet. What is the lateral area in square feet of the cylinder to the nearest tenth? (1) 172.7 (2) 172.8 (3) 345.4 (4) 345.6
This question is designed to punish, for 2 credits, a student who multiplies 2 digit numbers with pencil and paper. The correct answer is (4). It requires three decimal places of π. They know that a kid who is not using the calculator will use two decimal places.

Back in the day, they told us that calculators can help a kid calculate. They told us the calculator can deal with tedious or repetitive work, and allow the kid to concentrate on mathematical ideas. I don’t know that I bought that 100%. But I understood. But requiring use of the π key is something else. It says the kid may not calculate without the calculator. The kid does not have permission to multiply. They have crossed a line. I hope everyone notices.