Graphics calculators and lower secondary mathematics

Kissane, B. and Kemp, M. (1999) Graphics calculators and lower secondary mathematics. The Australian Mathematics Teacher, 55 (1). pp. 4-10.

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Abstract

There has been a steady increase in the levels of use of calculators in both primary and secondary schools over the 1980s and 1990s, despite initial scepticism and caution. Today, the use of scientific calculators has become commonplace in lower secondary school mathematics classrooms in Australia. Although some schools began using scientific calculators through the purchase of class sets for upper secondary school students, these days most students are expected to own and learn to use their own personal calculator and begin to do so from the lower secondary level. This paper is concerned centrally with the appropriateness of lower secondary students now using graphics calculators instead of scientific calculators.