This survey investigated the current status of calculator use in classrooms and schools. The results indicated that the prevailing policy in the sample of high schools is to allow the use of calculators during classroom learning activities and tests. Scientific calculators are more frequently used than graphing calculators in algebra I and geometry; whereas, graphing calculators are more frequently used in algebra II and precalculus/trigonometry. At the time of this survey, school policies regarding the use of graphing calculators with symbolic algebra capabilities were still not determined.
Four experiments were conducted to test a deduction from John B. Carroll’s Model of School Learning. According to the model, if a learner is already willing to persevere to the extent needed for learning, increasing the learner’s perseverance will not alter degree of learning or learning rate. In all experiments, the time needed to learn a paired-associate task under an encouragement condition designed to increase perseverance was compared to the learning time under a discouragement or control condition. As predicted by the model, none of the differences was statistically significant. The findings support the claim that rewards may increase the time learners will spend on a task but not their degree or rate of learning.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.