Calculators are useful tools in elementary mathematics classes, if students already have some basic skills, new research has found. The findings shed light on the debate about whether and when calculators should be used in the classroom.听
鈥淭hese findings suggest that it is important children first learn how to calculate answers on their own, but after that initial phase, using calculators is a fine thing to do, even for basic multiplication facts,鈥� said , assistant professor of psychology at Peabody and co-author of the study.听
The research is currently in press at the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology and is available on the journal鈥檚 .听
Rittle-Johnson and co-author Alexander Kmicikewycz, who completed the work as his undergraduate honors thesis at Peabody, found that the level of a student鈥檚 knowledge of mathematics facts was the determining factor in whether a calculator hindered his or her learning.听
鈥淭he study indicates technology such as calculators can help kids who already have a strong foundation in basic skills,鈥� said Kmicikewycz, now a teacher in New York City public schools.听
鈥淔or students who did not know many multiplication facts, generating the answers on their own, without a calculator, was important and helped their performance on subsequent tests,鈥� Rittle-Johnson added. 鈥淏ut for students who already knew some multiplication facts, it didn鈥檛 matter鈥攗sing a calculator to practice neither helped nor harmed them.鈥澛�
The researchers compared third graders鈥� performance on multiplication problems after they had spent a class period working on other multiplication problems. Some of the students spent that class period generating answers on their own, while others simply read the answers from a calculator. All students used a calculator to check their answers.听
The researchers found that the calculator鈥檚 effect on subsequent performance depended on how much the students knew to begin with. For those students who already had some multiplication skills, using the calculator before taking the test had no impact. But for those who were not good at multiplying, use of the calculator had a negative impact on their performance.听
The researchers also found that the students using calculators were able to practice more problems and had fewer errors.听
And, for many of the students, using calculators was simply fun.听
鈥淜ids enjoyed them. It鈥檚 one way to make memorizing your multiplication facts a more interesting thing to do,鈥� Rittle-Johnson said.听
鈥淪o much of how you teach depends on how you market the material鈥攑resentation is very important to kids,鈥� Kmicikewycz added. 鈥淢any of these students had never used a calculator before, so it added a fun aspect to math class for them.鈥澛�
鈥淚t鈥檚 a good tool that some teachers shy away from, because they are worried it鈥檚 going to have negative consequences,鈥� Rittle-Johnson said. 鈥淚 think that the evidence suggests there are good uses of calculators, even in elementary school.鈥�