Calculators in class
Amarinder Sandhu
Should school-going children be allowed the use of calculators? Calculations are a part and parcel of everyday life. A child’s basic education includes arithmetic and the formal learning of the language. To do simple calculations one does not need any technical aid. All of us remember reciting tables in school and how much the maths teacher grilled us till we knew the tables by heart. Simple addition and subtraction sums were performed in the mind and the calculations were done manually. Calculators never existed in the curriculum. 

l US study supported calculators

Copying takes a toll on academic performance
With the advent of lecture-hall laptops and online coursework, there has been an upsurge in unnoticed cheating among students, which, according to researchers, is a significant cause of course failure. A researcher from the University of Kansas has teamed up with colleagues from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to get a better handle on copying in college in the 21st century.

Campus Notes
l Alumni inducted into IFS
l 5,5000 farmers attend fair
l Floriculture for Manipur farmers
l Board not nominated

ADMISSION DEADLINE

Calculators in class
Amarinder Sandhu

Should school-going children be allowed the use of calculators? Calculations are a part and parcel of everyday life. A child’s basic education includes arithmetic and the formal learning of the language. To do simple calculations one does not need any technical aid. All of us remember reciting tables in school and how much the maths teacher grilled us till we knew the tables by heart. Simple addition and subtraction sums were performed in the mind and the calculations were done manually. Calculators never existed in the curriculum. Square root and chi-square were calculated without the help of gadgets. Using the abacus was a matter of routine.

With the education system trying to reduce the tension and stress level of the students a question arises—should calculators be allowed among the students? If calculators are allowed we will be churning out a soft but tech savvy intellectual generation that is enslaved by technology? Mental maths is a part of the daily school routine and the regular use of calculators will make this method totally redundant The non-use of calculators is not the mere discarding of aimless labours but it also maintains the scientific dignity of the student.

Rattan Chahal, associate professor of MCA at the Guru Gobind Singh College, Kharar, is strongly against the use of calculators. She asserts that if the students are allowed to use the calculators at the school level they become dependent on the machine at an early age. The development of the faculties is retarded at the development level. She stresses on the use of the abacus in calculations, as it saves time

Tavleen Kaur a student of Vivek High School, Chandigarh who is appearing for her Boards says: “Calculators are not required at the matriculation level. Mental maths comes handy here. It is only at the +2 level that mathematical calculations become difficult and a calculator helps to save time.” Anurima of the same school affirms that the use of the calculator slows down the brain, and it should be used by students only at the senior secondary level.

Baljeet Singh, an Assistant General Manager of State Bank of India, advocating the use of calculators among the students says: “The millennium youngster is born surrounded by technology. Today the world moves because of this and the watch word for students is ‘lets uncomplicate’. If an aid is there which can simplify the work let us put it to the best of us. Calculators will help to reduce the stress of mental calculations.”

Harneet Shallu Bedi Incharge of the Department of Sports Psychology, National Institute of Sports, Patiala suggests that calculators should be allowed for the differently-abled students who have learning disabilities. A normal school-going pupil needs to develop his mental abilities and not take the easy way out offered by technical aids. The problem solving abilities are developed only if students are stimulated enough.

Birbala, a maths teacher employed with the Education Department, Chandigarh Administration says: “Till the school level, students should use their brains. Only when they enter the professional colleges should the calculator be allowed.”

A student should be allowed to develop his problem solving mental faculties but who can resist the lure of technology when it is offered on a platter? The debate goes on, even as the world goes more towards the acceptance of calculators by school-going children.

US study supported calculators

Widespread concern over the use of calculators by young children in the US prompted a year-long study funded by the National Science foundation that produced a final report on “Impact of calculators in elementary school mathematics” which was published in July 1979. The following are its main observations:

l There are no measurable detrimental effects for the first-year use of calculators for teaching mathematics in grade 2-6.

l Children have a high-positive attitude towards using calculators in mathematics.

l Children learn to use calculators for computation within 30 minutes of instruction, and can perform computations more successfully than children not using calculators.

Copying takes a toll on academic performance

Lecture-hall laptops and online coursework have resulted in unnoticed cheating among students.

With the advent of lecture-hall laptops and online coursework, there has been an upsurge in unnoticed cheating among students, which, according to researchers, is a significant cause of course failure. A researcher from the University of Kansas has teamed up with colleagues from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to get a better handle on copying in college in the 21st century.

Young-Jin Lee, assistant professor of educational technology at KU, and the Research in Learning, Assessing and Tutoring Effectively group at MIT spent four years seeing how many copied answers MIT students submitted to MasteringPhysics, an online homework tutoring system.

"MIT freshmen are required to take physics. Homework was given through a Web-based tutor that our group had developed. We analysed when they logged in, when they logged out, what kind of problems they solved and what kinds of hints they used," said Lee.

Lee said that it was easy to spot students who had obtained answers from classmates before completing the homework.

"We ran into very interesting students who could solve the problems — very hard problems — in less than one minute, without making any mistakes," said Lee.

Students also were asked to complete an anonymous survey about the frequency of their homework copying.

The researchers found that students who procrastinated also copied more often. Those who started their homework three days ahead of deadline copied less than 10 percent of their problems, while those who dragged their feet until the last minute were repetitive copiers.

The students who copied frequently had about three times the chance of failing the course.

Results of the survey show that students are twice as likely to copy on written homework than on online homework.

The study showed that doing all the homework assigned is "a surer route to exam success" than a pre-existing aptitude for physics.

"People believe that students copy because of their poor academic skills. But we found that repetitive copiers — students who copy over 30 percent of their homework problems — had enough knowledge, at least at the beginning of the semester. But they didn't put enough effort in. They didn't start their homework long enough ahead of time, as compared to noncopiers," said Lee.

The study has been published in Physical Review Special Topics: Physics Education Research. — ANI

Campus Notes
Dr Y. S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan

Alumni inducted into IFS

The university's alumni added a feather in its cap as five of its students cleared the Indian Forest Services examination. Though 11 students had qualified the written examination, five were lucky to make it to the prestigious services. Those selected included Irfan Ali Shah, Santosh Joshi, Raj Priya Singh, Saroj Bhai Patel and Chander Shekhar. Earlier, six other students had also been inducted into the IFS while four others had made it to the ARS (Forestry). Dr S. D. Bhardwaj, Dean College of Forestry, said they had initiated coaching facilities at the campus and in the last four years 19 students been inducted in the IFS while six students had been selected as forestry scientists in the Indian Council of Agriculture Research.

5,5000 farmers attend fair

The university held its annual Kisan Mela at its Neri-based Regional Horticulture and Forestry Research Station in Hamirpur. As many as 45 NGO and government agencies exhibited various products. Almost 5,500 farmers from all over the state, except Lahaul Spiti, participated. Chief Minister PK Dhumal, who was the chief guest, inaugurated the station's new building constructed at a cost of Rs 30 lakh. Horticulture Minister Narinder Bragta and local MLA Urmil Thakur also marked their presence on the occasion.

Floriculture for Manipur farmers

A batch of 20 farmers from Manipur paid a two-day visit here which was organised by the 5 Assam Rifles as part of their operation Sadbhavna. The farmers were taken around the university and they elicited special interest in the cultivation of kiwi fruit, floriculture and off-season vegetable cultivation. The batch was led by Major Vivek Chakraborthy of 5 Assam Rifles. The farmers were especially keen to replicate some of the current technologies in their parent state and they acquired the requisite information on various subjects.

Board not nominated

With the Board of Management (BoM), the apex decision making body of the university, failing to be constituted after the term of the last body expired in August last year, the functioning has been severally affected. Since the BoM ratifies all crucial decisions and appointments made in the university its absence has hit the institute's working.

The body constitutes several ex-officio members and five non-official members who are generally politically nominated and it was the selection of these members which had delayed the whole process. Though these posts are supposed to be filled from among prominent orchard farmers, woman social worker, engineer, etc., they have become political appointments.

— Contributed by Ambika Sharma

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