Voa education report - After 40 Years, Calculators in School Still Add Up to Debate

Fill in the blank with one suitable word

Children

Jerry

Special

States

Steve

The

They

This

abilities

about

also

and

answers

are

at

be

by

bytes

debate

develop

device

do

electricity

entrance

handheld

in

instead

it

more

name

powerful

subtraction

taken

that

the

they

years

is the VOA Special English Education Report. Can you the math: What is one hundred times four, divided the square root of a hundred? If you know , then you know the answer to this: How many ago did three scientists at Texas Instruments invent the electronic calculator? The answer is forty. The scientists were Merryman, James Van Tassel and Jack Kilby. Their first could add, subtract, multiply and divide. It had twelve of memory ---- close to nothing compared to today's calculators. And it weighed more than a kilogram. But was powered by batteries. That meant it could be anywhere. Other electronic calculators had to be plugged into . Not only that, they weighed close to twenty-five kilograms were almost as big as typewriters. In the United , the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics says teachers every level should support the use of calculators. Students even permitted to use them when they take college tests. That may surprise parents who still think of days of paper-and-pencil only. Yet after forty years, calculators the classroom still add up to the same old . Some education experts think calculators are used too much. , they say, learn to depend on these electronic brains of their own. Calculators may not only give students to questions they do not really understand, critics argue. may also keep them from discovering ideas for themselves. danger? Students who cannot even do simple addition and . Other experts, though, say calculators have helped make mathematics understandable to more students. They say calculators give students time to understand and solve problems ---- and to a better sense of what numbers mean. That way, reasoning goes, they can study higher level ideas than would otherwise. And they can feel better about their . What do teachers think? Generally they say calculators can useful ---- especially with more complex math. But they say that young students should know basic operations before begin using them. What do you think of calculators the classroom? Send your thoughts to specialvoanewscom@.. Tell us your own experience. And be sure to include your and where you are from. And that's the VOA English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Our reports online with transcripts and MP3 files at voaspecialenglishcom.. I'm Ember.

SCORE: