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The Authority of the Calculator in the Minds of College Students
Author(s) -
Glasgow Bob,
Reys Barbara J.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
school science and mathematics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.135
H-Index - 2
eISSN - 1949-8594
pISSN - 0036-6803
DOI - 10.1111/j.1949-8594.1998.tb17309.x
Subject(s) - calculator , decimal , mathematics education , class (philosophy) , task (project management) , arithmetic , computer science , computation , mathematics , algorithm , artificial intelligence , engineering , systems engineering , operating system
A group of 25 undergraduate students was given seven estimation tasks that involved computation of whole or decimal numbers. The subjects (10 elementary education majors, 7 mathematics majors, and 8 undecided or premajors) were selected because of high achievement in their current college mathematics class. They were asked to estimate an answer to a computational task and then use a calculator provided by the researchers to determine the exact answer. The calculator had been programmed to give incorrect answers that were increasingly higher than the actual answer (beginning with a 10% error and ending with a 50% error). While the majority of subjects produced reasonable estimates, only 7 of the 25 students questioned the accuracy of the answers produced on the calculator. The study points out the subjects’ lack of confidence in estimation skills, as well as a reluctance to question calculator produced results.