Math Homework: Are Calculators Helping or Hurting Our Kids?

Here's a quick quiz.

Does 1 + 1 = 2 or does 1 + 1 = 3? It's not a trick question. Ok, I know it was an easy one. But if you ask alot of middle school or high school kids their basic addition or multiplication facts, they have to count on their fingers....unless they have a trusty calculator.

And most have a calculator. So what's my point? Learning math facts in the early years of school helps build thinking skills for higher math like algebra. It's kind of like learning to walk. Babies crawl, then they pull up, then they walk. While crawling they develop certain muscles and skills for walking

Calculators are "not a bad thing", but some where down the line kids need to develop certain skills as well as the discipline that comes in the process.

There's a good article that talks about this. Here's a quote from the article:

Little Johnny has to put away that calculator and learn his
times tables and long division if he is to be successful in higher-level math and the workplace.

That's the message from the National Council of Teachers
of Mathematics, which issued a much-anticipated study Tuesday that urged a return to the basics in teaching math.

You can check out the rest of the article here.