European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 2, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Magazine t. La s4s photo by Cus schuet1leh teacher Judith Bott gel with Lehett wallers left end Lelland Akau lit Mannheim Germany. Calculators in the classroom All you do is push in the numbers by Dave Walczak education writer Ine year old Leilani Akau blew a lock of hair from her forehead leaned Over and went to work on the problem of in dog Tho Tola number of calories in her evening meal Wilh her left hand holding a Pencil and her right hand pecking away at a calculator Leilani uncovered the Correct answer of 606 in seconds Leilani is one of thousands of elementary students in the military s overseas school system who use calculators while dealing with classroom math it s faster than using Pencil and  the tilth grader said. All you do is push in the  Judith Bottiggi. Who teaches Leilani and 23 other lift graders at an Ete Mellary school in Mannheim. Germany has made calculators part of her classroom environment the past three years they love to use them. Their first reaction is. I m not supposed to use it i m supposed to do it Mysell the department of defense dependents schools system purchased More than 50,000 hand sized calculators six years ago one or every fourth filth and sith grader in the school system. Their use spread throughout the school system so that students As Young As c and As old As 17 can be found in classrooms Loday lapping away at the machines. The expansion of calculators within the Dodds system coincides with a general consensus among educators that Calcut Alois enhance student mathematics skills. An Ohio education professor has estimated that Between 20 and 50 percent of american elementary school youngsters use calculators in the classroom the National Council of teachers of mathematics recommended recently the utilization of calculators in the school math program at at Grade Levels in Classwork Homework and evaluation testing but not everyone agrees thai calculators belong in the academic Wotty officials who run the Scholastic achievement test have barred students irom using them while taking the exam monday november 2. 19b7 however according in Clyde l Innell. Male director fur Iho dodos germ air Region a if lorm i Educa Lars arc considering allowing students in 1n.il Slaler i \ a calculator while taking the annual Cati Lorma  test Tho Rte at about calculator use in the class Ofir Klc Nisto Lex Book publishers calilorni.1 schools have introduce calculator curriculum at All Tkv Nellary Levels hut nol nil publishers agree with that a incl publisher John a on whose Back to  of Lbook approx Ali has Boon Cro diled by sonic teachers with a use in student lout scores said elementary student should he dulled in the to mics and leave calculators Iii lil Lawn Minior and Sequoi in Ali school years. Dodds hns incorporated calculator use ii Outi its Elo montary Malli curriculum providing cat Cutalo worksheets to augment the Trad Lional Lex Booc approach in teaching mathematics teachers like Bolli Cit have taken Tho by Root system s calculator program another Slop by purchasing Addi Honni instructional materials such As that designed to track calories in school party and Home meals Tho exercise lies into health Bottiggi said Rul calculators Are used across the curriculum you can use them lode Learnine How Many Days it look explorers to sail or Trace the time of Tho Lewis and Clork  Finnell says that Cak i Lalois provide a positive menial Outlook in students our results Shuw that Kirti will alack a difficult problem with a Cal Lalur Hinl they Ivon t attack with a paper a d Pencil. Thai hns improved student Atli Ludes la turd  Otto Thomas who served As live  Region s math Coord Miili Diclaro taking Over a a the Region s exo ulivo services Ulli Cor said calculators can t replace knowledge of Basic male skills Loihana agreed. You have to know Ivov to add and subtract Belore you can Uso a cat Hulalor she said Thomas said calculators have not displaced Basic skills instruction in the classroom calculators and student instruction Are no belter than the information provided. Just because someone uses a calculator does t mean that he could t Woik out Iho problem in his head if a College student used a slide Rule does Hal mean he could i find the answer using a Pencil and paper Thomas said children still need to know How to estimate in order to use Iho calculator effectively Boll Iggi said Hal estimations arc crucial to understanding How calculators lit into the male instruction equation. I ask the children. Is it sensible to assume Hal your answer can be in the thousands when you re Only dealing with 10s and lost " she often has groups of children working on the same problem so that they can compare answers and find where a student might have fired in punching in the wrong number. Knt Rosier a child development expert the Heads the science curriculum within the Germany Region says children need to understand numbers before the can effectively use calculators. If you old to Hal a kindergarten class was using calculators. I would t throw up my hands in horror but i would question the Wisdom of  he said kindergarten children need to see that two blocks and three blocks equals five blocks. They can All recite numbers but do they understand what the numbers really mean Finnell said that Dodds High school students use two types of calculators with the Basic Model used in general male classes and an advanced version that can compute trigonometric Lun Lions Lor advanced mathematics studies parents of Dodds a Hydren have yet to raise serious objections to the use of classroom calculators. According to school system oleic Dos in lad. Bottiggi said that Parent she s dealt with support the concept like Many Dodds students. Leilani was introduced to calculators in the Home. My mom has one in her  she said i used to play with it. I had a toy that works like a calculator the think it s great i m using a calculator in school " the stars and stripes Page 13