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A growing body of research shows that graphing calculator use improves students’ math skills as well as their attitudes toward math.
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| Specific research studies show that use of graphing calculators:
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| • | Improves student skills and achievement in high school and middle school math. |
| • | Positively impacts student performance in algebra. |
| • | Improves math test scores – with and without student calculator use during testing. |
| • | Leads to significantly better student attitudes toward math. |
| • | Promotes higher student achievement when incorporated into the curriculum. |
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| Title/Author |
Study Description |
Key Findings |
“Impact of Handheld Graphing Calculator Use on Student Achievement in Beginning Algebra”
January 2006
Heller Research Associates
Joan Heller, Deborah Curtis (San Francisco University), Rebecca Jaffe and Carol Verboncoeur (Heller Research Associates) |
A correlational study looking at the relationship between graphing calculator use and student standardized test scores in grades 9-11.
Students were instructed with varying levels of graphing calculator use, and they did not use graphing calculators during testing. |
- When teachers incorporated graphing calculators into their curriculum more frequently and with greater intensity, including during less frequent math topics, student achievement was higher.
- The more access students have to graphing calculators and more frequent use during instruction, the higher their end-of-course test scores.
- Increased use of graphing calculators during instruction resulted in higher test scores even when students did not use graphing calculators during testing.
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“Effectiveness of Graphing Calculators in K-12 Mathematics Achievement”
November 2005
Empirical Education Inc. (EEI)
Madhab Khoju and Gloria Miller (EEI,Palo Alto, California) and Andrew Jaciw (Stanford University) |
A systematic review of rigorous scientifically-based research addressing the impact of graphing calculator use on student achievement. A metaanalysis of eight individual studies specific to graphing calculator use found a large pooled effect size (.85) that is statistically significant.
This review supports the findings of other studies regarding the impact of graphing calculator use on student achievement, such as the meta-analysis conducted by Aimee J. Ellington and reported in the November 2003 issue of Journal of Research in Mathematics Education. |
- Strong evidence showed that student use of graphing calculators increased performance in algebra.
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“Final Report of A Study of the Impact of Graphing Calculator Use on State Assessments”
October 2005
Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL), Austin, TX
K. Victoria Dimock, PhD
Todd Sherron, PhD |
SEDL surveyed a representative sample of Texas teachers and related their reports of calculator use to their class’ achievement on the 2004 and 2005 TAKS. The TAKS requires calculator use. Most respondents use GCs on a daily basis, use a classroom set of calculators, and use them for class work and assessments. There were several significant relationships to TAKS scores, including use of GCs for homework, students required to furnish their own GC, and using GCs for operations. |
Utilization of GCs is Consistently High
Source of GC is Usually Classroom Set
Relationship of Source to TAKS Score Favors Ownership
- Schools using calculators averaged 29 points higher TAKS scores than schools that did not.
- Students required to provide own calculator, averaged TAKS scores 36 points higher.
- Students using GCs for homework averaged TAKS scores 28 points higher.
- Relationship of Type of Use to TAKS average scores was inconsistent and inconclusive.
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“A Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Calculators on Students’ Achievement and Attitude Levels in Precollege Mathematics Classes”
November 2003
Aimee J. Ellington
Peer reviewed research |
A meta-analysis of 54 high-quality studies, 22 specifically on graphing calculators, to determine the effects of calculator use on students’ performance in five skill areas: conceptual, computational, operational, problem solving and selectivity.
For those using calculators during instruction, performance was measured and compared between students who both did and did not use calculators during assessment.
Survey data was collected on students’ attitudes toward mathematics and related to calculator usage. |
- Students who received instruction using graphing calculators performed as well or significantly better in conceptual, problem solving and operational skill areas.
- Students using calculators during instruction – but not during assessment – performed as well or better in all five math skill areas. This key finding also indicates that student math skills did not suffer even without calculator use specifically during assessment.
- Students using calculators had better attitudes toward mathematics than their noncalculator-using counterparts.
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“Using Handheld Graphing Technology in Secondary Mathematics: What Scientifically-Based Research Has to Say”
May 2003
Prepared for Texas Instruments by Interactive Educational Systems Design, Inc.
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An analysis of five independent experimental and quasi-experimental studies on secondary level mathematics and the impact of graphing calculator use.
Meets the rigorous standards of scientifically-based research relating to criteria from the No Child Left Behind Act. |
Student use of graphing calculators positively impacted general algebra performance, specifically showing:
- Significant improvement in student performance (Thompson and Senk, 2001)
- Higher achievement among low performing students (Harskamp, Suhre and Van Streun, 2000)
- Improved students’ skills in creating algebraic descriptions of Cartesian graphs (Ruthven, 1990)
- Improved student knowledge of functions (Schwarz and Hershkowitz, 1999)
- Improved student understanding of functions (Hollar and Norwood, 1999)
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“Technical Paper: Relationship Between Education Quality Indicators and Achievement, Grade 9 Assessment of Mathematics, 2001-2002”
Retrieved September 2004 from the Ontario EQOA Web site.
Ontario Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQOA) |
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A correlational analysis that examined the factors relating to math performance of Ontario’s grade 9 students, analyzing data from more than 600 schools. |
"Lessons from SimCalc: What Research Says"
TI Research Brief #6
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For over a decade, researchers of the SimCalc Project, based at the James J. Kaput Center for Research and Innovation in Mathematics Education at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, have been striving to fulfill their vision of "democratizing access" to important, advanced mathematics. To this team, democratizing access has meant two things:
(1) enabling children from all backgrounds to learn conceptually-rich mathematics and
(2) scaling up to demonstrate measurable impact throughout whole districts, regions, and states.
A core belief of the project is that technology can provide a new representational and connectivity infrastructure for teaching and learning. Coupled with the right curriculum, teacher professional development, and school leadership, this infrastructure can make advanced concepts --including those usually addressed only in an elite Calculus course-- accessible to many more students and at early earlier grade levels.
The SimCalc instructional approach emphasizes developing multiple, interrelated mathematical fluencies including both procedural and conceptual (declarative) understandings. |
- SimCalc is a promising model for teaching mathematics in a technology-facilitated environment. At the heart of the model is the use of technology to integrate graphical, dynamic and linguistic representation to enhance student learning. At Texas Instruments, we see implications that extend far beyond the project and are important to the entire graphing calculator and classroom networking community in math and science education.
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 Download PDF version of this research summary
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Additional References for Calculator Research
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| The items in this bibliography feature results from research with hand-held calculators and related areas of study
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| View These References |
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Papers by Franklin Demana and Bert K. Waites, Co-Founders of T³
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| Visit Dr. Demana and Dr. Waits' site at Ohio State University for their publications
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| Demana - Waits Math Education |
