One of the major task facing the Research Advisory Committee (RAC) is to serve the needs of two groups: researchers in mathematics education, who are primarily concerned with understanding the learning process: and practitioners (teachers, supervisors. principals), who are mainly concerned with finding more effective ways to teach children. Researchers, guided by their intuitions, study problems and often obtain results that are not directly applicable to the classroom situation: practitioners, on the other hand. actively pursue better ways to educate children in the classroom. To insist that researchers should address themselves only to the immediate problems of the classroom seems to be an unwise course of action, since the history of science includes many discoveries that had useful applications years, or even centuries, after their di scovery. Yet for researchers to ignore the need of the classroom may lead to sterile research results that only collect dust in the darkened corners of a library.
The findings of 79 research reports were integrated by meta-analysis to assess the effects of calculators on student achievement and attitude. Effect sizes were derived by the method invented by Glass and tested for consistency and significance with inferential statistics provided by Hedges. At all grades but Grade 4, a use of calculators in concert with traditional mathematics instruction apparently improves the average student's basic skills with paper and pencil, both in working exercises and in problem solving. Sustained calculator use in Grade 4 appears to hinder the development of basic skills in average students. Across all grade and ability levels, students using calculators possess a better attitude toward mathematics and an especially better self-concept in mathematics than students not using calculators.
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