And not everyone is good at solving math alone without the aid of the calculator. Some people simply can't solve mathematics at all, maybe up to multiplication/division level is the best they can do. I am not good with mathematics myself and struggles with some advanced algebra. It is not the matter of trying to solve, it is matter of memorization of mathematics formula and equations that US Education drilled down so hard which is ironic when they said that calculators are forbidden to use during the exam while they are encouraging to use the calculators in class and homework... Their pedagogy is fucked and hypocritical.
As the article describes, memorization of “formulas” doesn’t actually work for my students and leaves those that it “worked” disadvantaged in future learning.
My personal guess is the “not being good at math” originates from this, at least in part. It’s a confidence killer for sure that on one had you are being forced to do something unnatural (memorize weird looking formulas) and on the other give a somewhat easy, yet demeaning, way out by saying “it’s ok, you are just not good at math”.
The calculator to study and no calculator for the test is even more ridiculous - students are put in a high pressure situation without the very tool/crutch they came to rely upon. If anything, the inverse might make more sense - homework you have a lot more time and less pressure, so try working it out on paper. Test is timed, so it’s ok to use a calculator aid, so long as you show your work.
Honestly, it is more direct at the instructors instead of the mathematics itself. I am not good with math because of the instructors' pedagogy. Honestly, I do like math and enjoy doing it (Khan's Academy helps a lot!). It is their approach with mathematics is the issue. Their pedagogy are not standardized enough to have consistency with each level of mathematics. There are instructors who dismissed their student's previous instructor because their former instructor gave them the shortcut or a shorter method while the new instructor are doing the same thing. Now you have a student who have a jumbled information of mathematics and that is difficult for the student to be able to relearn a new information while they can't erase/forget the previous method.
Also I am curious why it is difficult for instructor to explain HOW and WHY that solution is the correct answer? It is like they don't want to teach the concept of mathematics which is vital for critical thinking, IMO. When I asked the instructor of this question (this is in college), their answers is "It is the way I was taught in school" and I felt that is dismissive and hand-waving away the question.
Instructors are not entirely at fault because they also received the similar education in the past as we do. The mathematics pedagogy and the curriculum need a massive restructuring and cohesive way to teach the students to ensure that the students can use the previous knowledge to the next level of mathematics for consistency without changing or influencing the students to forget everything.
- https://gen.medium.com/big-calculator-how-texas-instruments-...
- https://www.google.com/search?q=texas+instruments+marketing+...
Meanwhile, most kids around me could not do something as simple as 49/7 without a calculator.
It's a loop. If you have a calculator, you use it more, so you never get better at maths, so you use a calculator more.
He was heavily avoided by many and "special" for doing so. I found it easier to forego the calculator as it allowed us to focus on methods and how/why over just moving large numbers around.
Total math teacher too, his university email is so full if you email him it just bounces back.