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Thread ID: 79221	2007-05-12 22:17:00	What is the NZQA thinking...	somebody (208)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
549353	2007-05-12 22:17:00	www.nzherald.co.nz	somebody (208)
549354	2007-05-13 01:43:00	Chris King, a senior mathematics lecturer at Auckland University, said the calculators let students move on to understanding maths, rather than slaving over the basics. This guy is dumb! The basics are REQUIRED to understand the higher levels of maths. "Slaving" over the basics is what pounds them into your memory!! Mitchell, a former teacher and calculus and physics expert, said: "Ask almost any secondary math teacher what they feel the important part of a solution is, and not many will say the answer itself, but in fact the series of distinct logical steps the student has used to arrive at their answer. As a learning tool these are very useful, but as an assessment tool, they are of no use to secondary mathematics as it stands today."This guy, however, seems to have his head screwed on right...	johcar (6283)
549355	2007-05-13 02:03:00	This guy is dumb! The basics are REQUIRED to understand the higher levels of maths. "Slaving" over the basics is what pounds them into your memory!! This guy, however, seems to have his head screwed on right... I got one of those graphing calculators in 1992 for school C, and wasn't allowed to use it, as it had a memory where I could store equations. I agree that those types of calculators shouldn't be allowed as they do make it too easy and you don't have to think. I got 98% without the calculator anyway without it. These types of calculators have been around for the past 15 years, so it is hardly a new issue. Certainly calculators should only be introduced to form 5 and up, as Forms 3&4 you learn the basics of maths and algebra and this shouldn't be complicated with caluclators.	robbyp (2751)
549356	2007-05-13 03:24:00	Seems fine, as long as the only purpose is to teach pupils to use a calculator . I have this curious oldfashioned idea that the purpose of a mathematics course was to teach mathematics . :groan: It looks as if universities will have to extend science degree courses to take 7 years or so; the first four years being devoted to teaching the basic level English, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, etc, which should have been learned in the secondary system . I can't see them presenting courses like "Calculator 401", or a specialised "Epson 407" instead of "Calculus 401" . In the same way that teaching use of computers in English courses so pupils can produce nicely "presented" content-free work, this "advance" will lead to a generation who know nothing . So much for the "knowledge economy" . If they don't know how to do mathematics, they won't know how to design better calculators . What will they know?	Graham L (2)
549357	2007-05-13 03:44:00	I went to a introduction course to STATS at Auckland Uni at the start of this year to refresh my STATS skills. One section asked us to calculate the Mean and Standard Deviations of different groups of numbers and about 70% of the room couldn't do it even with their NCEA Casio graphics calculators and dint even know where the buttons to get such equations were. The dont know the basics and neither do they know how to work their calculators.	beeswax34 (63)
549358	2007-05-13 06:03:00	I went to a introduction course to STATS at Auckland Uni at the start of this year to refresh my STATS skills. One section asked us to calculate the Mean and Standard Deviations of different groups of numbers and about 70% of the room couldn't do it even with their NCEA Casio graphics calculators and dint even know where the buttons to get such equations were. The dont know the basics and neither do they know how to work their calculators. O.O If they took secondary school maths/stats, they would know this. I am doing form 6 Stats this year, though I already knew such simple stuff from standard Maths 201 in Form 5. How did they even get into Auckland Uni? I'm working my ass off at school in my last year as I was told that you have to be real hardcore to get in.	Deathwish (143)
549359	2007-05-13 06:57:00	It's bloody easy to get into Auckland Uni. You just need to get your UE. Anyway, these calculators look pretty useful. I'm not sure if they're appropriate for NCEA, as they will probably make it too easy, but they would be really useful for doing actual calculations. I agree with the comment from the UoA professor quoted above, that slaving over the basics is often a huge waste of time. Yes, it's good to know how to do it, but what's the point in solving a 20 variable set of simultaneous equations by hand when a computer or calculator can do it for you?	roddy_boy (4115)
549360	2007-05-13 07:04:00	It's bloody easy to get into Auckland Uni . You just need to get your UE . Anyway, these calculators look pretty useful . I'm not sure if they're appropriate for NCEA, as they will probably make it too easy, but they would be really useful for doing actual calculations . I agree with the comment from the UoA professor quoted above, that slaving over the basics is often a huge waste of time . Yes, it's good to know how to do it, but what's the point in solving a 20 variable set of simultaneous equations by hand when a computer or calculator can do it for you?Because when you get your calculated answer, you have to have some idea of whether the answer looks right . It's very easy to miskey one or more inputs on a calculator - and there's nothing (usually) to indicate what your inputs were - although I believe some of the more recent calculators do have this function . Accepting an answer at face value, without having a gut feel as to its accuracy can get you into a lot of trouble . If you know the basics backwards it is much easier to make a call on how accurate the answer delivered by a calculator is .	johcar (6283)
549361	2007-05-13 08:01:00	Calculators make you lazy Granted that the year I sat SC Maths, we were allowed to use the old FX-82 (the first year it was permitted) to help us, but IIRC we still had to show in writing how we got to said answer I wonder how many students these days remember their times tables (which is necessary even in labourers jobs where there are no calculators. The amount of times I have to do basic Mathematics on the job is amazing, glad I still remember how to work it out in my head :D)	Myth (110)
549362	2007-05-13 09:28:00	It's very easy to miskey one or more inputs on a calculator - and there's nothing (usually) to indicate what your inputs were - although I believe some of the more recent calculators do have this function. I would have to argue that it's far easier to err somewhere in the manual calculations and throw your answers completely off than to miskey, as you put it.	roddy_boy (4115)
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