Is Calculator Bad for Grade school kids?

Hello, agihcam, i don't use calculator until i entered high school but only for function such as "sina", "cos", “log","ln" etc,difficult problems you know can't be tackled on our own or at least it takes too much time. That's a wasting of time. But as to general mathematics problem, i don't. Simple multipy, division, plus, minus, no!I aslo memorize lots of formular to accelerate calculation, that's good. In conclusion, my suggestion easy problems no, complicated one yes. You're kid's only Grade 3, absolutely not. Wait until he's in high school Enjoy life

For simple math problems? Sure they can use their own head for that. Or, at least figure the problem out the long way on paper. That is what practice is for. Practice makes perfect as they say and really it's the only way to learn. They made us do it. Don't know why modern kids would be so different!

For grade 3 kids i never recommend to use a calculator.By profession I am a teacher so I know this that calculators are not a good option for doing the simple calculation at this very early stage of life.During this stage a child should be allowed to use his own brain as it is necassary to use ones mind for the mental development.Nowadays you can see that we are not able to recall the phone numbers of our friends and relatives because these numbers can be saved in our phone memory not in our memory and when we want to talk to them we simply search that number from our mobile phone memory because of which our memory power is declining gradully.Same happens with the use of calculators as we stop using our mind and gets fully dependent on them which is not a good sign for a childs mental growth.So as a teacher I recommend all parents and children not to use the calculators for the simple calculations.

As a teacher, though not math, I believe that we should not allow the children to be dependent on technoligical gadgets like calculators until they become independent and/or can use their brain more than relying much on the available technologies for easy living. Calculator is just a machine, it is not permanent. A perosn cannot totally be dependent with it. Childre should be taught to use their brain for permanent learning. Take care =)

Calculators are for high graders and high schools. During early stages of studying students need to exercise their brains and get it ready to function properly for their life ahead. If they start using calculator in their lower grades than imagine the situation. They would not be able to calculate the smallest problem within their brain in the future and they will always be depending on their calculators.

I'm in the 9th grade.And agree that we shouldn't be allowed to use caculators in school.Because when it comes to exams and state wide testings were not allowed to use caculators and we end up failing the test.Then we fail the school year.But at the same point think the Teachers could help us more.For example my math teacher at the begging of the year had told us were not allowed to use 3.14 for Pie and taugh us another way of doing it then within the week before our state wide test she decides to change her ways and teach us Pie 3.14.Lucky for me I had already known it.But other kids had failed.And even though we weren't allowed to use a caculator.but on the other hand the Algebra teacher took use of her caculator and thats how she taugh us everything.Which didn't help us at all.If we wanted to learn that way she should have gave us our own.

New researches made all over the world about the child education feels that calculators take away the ability of the child to think and calculate. The use of mental mathematics, the use abacaus is more permanent than the dependence on calculators.

I am not a parent but I remember that my mom wouldn't let me have a calculator until I knew my multiplication tables.I did learn them and I got my calculator. She will need one when she does algebra but when you are first learning math, I don't think so. Before my calculator, I would figure out Everything with pencil and paper.And if I can't find or use my calculator these days I still use pencil and paper.

I think its terrible for kids to be so young and use a calculator. Come on some of their head needs to be put to good use. Kids learn easier than adults. Take advantage of it.

I definitely agree with your decision. It's really important to let the child learn for himself and not rely to any calculator in terms of computation. I have a cousin who does rely on calculator and to tell you she's now in her 4th year high school and can't even multiply or divide a number on his own and we are blaming it to that machine.

For a kid in a third year using calculator is kinda sin. If he starts using calculator he would depend on it and his thinking and reasoning ability will be perished. He needs to do calculation traditional way before using any calculators.

good day. I will never let my child use the calculator unless they need the to algorithm in trigonometry and that's saying he/she must be in the high school level before I'll let them use it. It's a lazy way of computing and would no doubt atrophy their logic in math. With that age. they need to think and calculate with their minds using the paper.

Calculators are a terrible idea for students at this age. The push to use calculators is largely the result of math curriculums that focus on advanced concepts rather than the basics. At this age, students need to focus on developing solid computational skills. There is plenty of time for applications that require the use of a calculator later.

yes, it is very bad for his memmory

A calculator is not good for children, and if the child is having such a difficult time in math, then he or she needs to consult a tutor.

i think that schools are making it too easy for children to become stupid. i believe that they (the administrators) want things to be easy as possible so that they can be underpaid for doing as little as possible. growing up, i wasn't allowed to use a calculator. as crazy as it sounds, i was given an abacus, counting blocks and was told to use my fingers. if you can't get down the basics, you will never learn anything. i think i was finally given a calculator when i took algebra 1 in junior high school.

I agree with you agihcam and I believe what you're doing is right and will help them. I'm only 20 and have no kids but in my elementary school they made us use calculators for basic math like addition and such and it has affected my math skills. I don't think kids use them because they are lazy,maybe some are but you have to put some blame on the school system as well. Many teachers are lazy. I remember in kindergarten, we had these huge blue calculators with white buttons and my teacher told us to figure out what 4 + 1 was on it. My mother was a single parent and struggled with two jobs so she was rarely home to teach us. Before I entered highschool I had to teach myself math because I was so bad at it they wanted to put me in special learning classes for math. Believe me, get them to learn it without a calculator because later in life it will hurt them like it did me. My elementary and jr. high school was on the worst list of schools because kids were being passed on yet couldn't read, write, or do math. We had kids in 8th grade writting at a 3 grade level. A lot of the schools in my area are very poor so that's why I'm going to college to get a good career so I can afford for my someday children to go to good schools and so that I can be home to help them learn as well.

i agree with you 100%. they need to learn to figure these problems out and also some of it is memorization but if they rely on the calculator they will never learn it. it becomes a crutch.

i'm not yet a parent but i will share to you my actual experience. i think we should not let kids at a very young age especially grade schools to use calculators. we should let them develop analytical and arithmetic skills which they will use in their daily living until they grow up. for example when they make a purchase, calculators are not always readily available, they could do mental calculations and they can protect themselves from being fooled by others especially when receiving their change. when i was young, i could do mental calculations even for large numbers faster than anyone in my class. in college, our course required us to use calculators since we will be computing for huge amounts of money most of the time. accuracy and efficiency is important. i ended up being so dependent on calculators that i even used it for simple computations. now as an adult, i'm finding it hard to compute mentally anymore since i am always dependent on calculators. i think with kids, you should let them develop more of their skills when they are still young and just let them enjoy a convenient life with calculators when they grow up. i also think kids should be developed continuously until they are old enough to decide what's best and convenient for themselves. but for now, you decide what is best for them!

My son is going into the 3rd grade and is always begging to use my calculator I use for my college studies and i tell him no because he needs to beable to do simple math in his head. I think of it this way he is exercising his brain and will be better off with no calculator until he is in middle school. He is really good at math but he is getting to the point of laziness and i hate to see bright minds brought down by pure laziness.