Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!cornell!rochester!ur-tut!sunybcs!boulder!hao!oddjob!nucsrl!gore
From: gore@nucsrl.UUCP (Jacob Gore)
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Re: Re: Calculators in exams, was: Becoming CAI literate
Message-ID: <3900008@nucsrl.UUCP>
Date: 22 Feb 88 19:00:56 GMT
References: <2032@ukecc.engr.uky.edu>
Organization: Northwestern U, Evanston IL, USA
Lines: 23

There is one important factor to consider when deciding whether or not to
allow calculators in an exam, that has nothing to do with the question of
whether or not people should be able to do arithmetic in their heads:

	There are calculators, and there are calculators.

There is a great variety of calculators.  If you give a test where it doesn't
matter to you how students do the multiplication, you may not mind if they use
the type of a calculator that does basic arithmetic.  However, by allowing
students to bring and use their calculators, you are also allowing them to use
programmable calculators, many of which are powerful enough to be
preprogrammed with solutions for a variety of problems that a student expects
to be on your test. 

I have taken too many tests where the tester wanted to know if you could solve
some problem by using a specific method.  The intention may be to test if the
student understands the method, but in reality, many (probably most) students
will just memorize the formula or the procedure for the test.  My personal
views are that such tests are bad.  But as long as they exist, allowing
programmable calculators to be used in such tests is unfair.

Jacob Gore				Gore@EECS.NWU.Edu
Northwestern Univ., EECS Dept.		{oddjob,gargoyle,ihnp4}!nucsrl!gore