Why Students Shouldn’t Use A Calculator

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“Why do I need to learn my timetables? My calculator can do it for me.”

This question is extremely common for students to say in maths classes at school, at home during homework, or even during tutoring sessions. We understand that it’s frustrating for students to do questions without a calculator. We also understand its frustration for teachers and parents to deal with.

Just like in school classes, it’s common for students to want to use a calculator during our maths tutoring sessions. We don’t let any of our primary students use them and we discourage the majority of our high school students from using them too.

To understand why we do this and how we’re able to convince students to follow this, we need to first understand both sides of the situation. Why students want to use the calculator and why teachers don’t want them to use it.

If you’re able to understand both arguments, you will be more capable of giving a good response to a student that asks this. If you’re able to give a good response, the student is more likely going to follow your instructions.

At the moment, we see lots of students who don’t follow these instructions with their teachers or parents, because they haven’t been given a good quality answer to their question. Those students will follow our instructions and not use a calculator though.

Let’s break this down together…

Calculator thinks instead of you.

1. Why Do Students Want To Use Their Calculators?

This may seem obvious, but let’s break it down to make sure everyone’s on the same page.

A student wants to use their calculator for 3 main reasons:

• It does the work quicker.
• It gets the answer correct.
• It’s easier.

By understanding each of these in more detail, we’ll be able to tailor our response to each student’s needs and accurately point out why we don’t want them to use their calculator.

This will give the best results, rather than a generic non-answer like “because I told you to not use it.”

To use a calculator, or to think? That’s the question…

2. The Calculator Answers The Questions Faster Than The Student

Generally, students will be embarrassed by how long it takes them to answer a simple question. It’s not uncommon for a year 9 student to start with us and be embarrassed that they can’t do basic multiplication like 6 x 8.

It might be their first session, and they want to make themselves look good. They automatically pull out the calculator the moment they feel embarrassed and they begin to punch in the numbers. It’s almost a reflex at this point.

This student’s motivation for using the calculator is based on easing their emotional discomfort.

These students will usually be introverted and want to appear courteous. They are embarrassed, because the spotlight is on them for an extended period of time and they get more embarrassed because they feel like they’re wasting your time.

By using the calculator, they’re able to complete the question and move the spotlight from them, while also being able to stop wasting your time.

If we want kids to be fast, we need them to learn to think first.

3. How Should A Tutor Deal With Students That Aren’t Fast?

The goal here is to take the reasons why they’re worried and turn them on their head. Point out these are actually positives for you and the student.

For instance, the student may say “I don’t want to waste your time, so I’ll use the calculator.”

A good response to this is to point out that they are only wasting your time if they use their calculator.

With a statement like this, the student will give you the chance to explain. That’s when you can point out that you’re doing the session to help them improve their abilities. If the student has a difficult question, this is the perfect chance for them to improve with. If they use the calculator, they haven’t improved though.

If the student is still worried about wasting your time and having the spotlight on them, tell them to focus on the question and you’ll give them time to think. When they begin to think about the question, do something else. Re-order papers, write some notes, etc. The key here is to remove your focus from the student to give them the freedom to relax and think.

Watch closely enough to make sure they don’t return to the calculator though.

Food like watermelon and other fruits, are great to conquer hunger.

4. The Calculator Gives The Right Answer

When students aren’t confident in their maths, they will want the calculator to compensate for their inability to work out the answers. The difficulty of the question will cause them discomfort, and the calculator will relieve this.

This will occur at anytime for any reason. Similarly, to the student that feels slow, this student uses the calculator to ease their emotional discomfort.

This doesn’t fix the core issue for them though and will in fact make the issue worse as their maths becomes more and more difficult.

We want to be kind to students by not allowing them to be trapped in an endless cycle of discomfort.

These students will normally be extraverted and with big egos. They don’t want to appear to be lacking in any regards.

By using the calculator, they’re able to get the answer correct. This proves how intelligent and resourceful they are.

Productivity requires focus, and focus requires no H.A.L.T.S.

5. How To Deal With Students That Lack Confidence

A student that’s inclined to use the calculator for this reason will often say “I don’t know how to do this. But, my calculator does!”

This won’t help them build confidence though. Confidence is built by creating undeniable evidence of your own abilities to deal with problems.

To tackle this problem, we first need to make sure the student feels safe to try, and to fail. We want to be encouraging them to try and teaching them that failure isn’t something to shy away from. Instead, it’s a mandatory step in the process of becoming successful.

A great response to this student is pointing out that you wouldn’t give them something they can’t do and that if they put their mind to it, they will be able to answer it correctly without the calculator.

It’s also good to give them a safety net that if they do get it wrong, you both will work together to make sure they don’t get it wrong in the future.

This gives them the chance to be courageous, because they can only succeed in this situation.

Build confidence with competence.

6. When The Calculator Is Easier Than Doing The Work

This student is generally lazier than others. They are looking for shortcuts, hacks and the easy way out of situations. Students like this don’t want to extend themselves because it’s too much hard work and can be uncomfortable.

When things get too difficult, they will reach for the calculator or simply give up. These students will also try and distract you from the task at hand by asking random questions, changing the subject, or even insulting you. They will do this as they look for any reason to not be uncomfortable.

Keep in mind that telling them off for insulting you changes the subject.

The work’s worth it though.

7. How To Handle Lazy Students

The first thing to realise is you must be absolutely uncompromising on completing the task. This means that any attempt by the student to move away from the question must be ignored.

By allowing the conversation to move from the question, you’re not being compassionate. You’re enabling poor behaviour. Allowing this will actually hurt the student in the long-term.

Next, we need to make the student realise that the calculator isn’t the safety net they think it is. We need to change their opinion on how useful it is as a tool. They’re able to be lazy, because they believe the calculator is more capable than they are.

To do this, the tutor should begin to give worded problems. Students will then be unable to put anything into the calculator, as they don’t understand the concepts.

You can then explain that they don’t know what to do, because they keep using the calculator and are limiting their own abilities. To complete a worded problem, they need to understand how to do it without the calculator.

Effectively, the student needs to learn the lesson that they are more capable than the calculator is.

Keep a student’s attention.

8. Individual Approaches For Students

When running through these situations, it’s important to remember that each student is different. It’s important to focus on the student’s individual needs and to help them become the best version of themselves.

Being capable at thinking is a major part of being a capable individual.

By not allowing the calculator, we’re encouraging them to become better thinkers and problem solvers.

We want them to be autonomous learners that can think for themselves.

To do this, they need to understand why we’re not getting them to use an extremely useful tool, like the calculator.

If you need help convincing your kids to stop using a calculator, we hope you find this article helpful. If you need more help with that or anything else maths related, feel free to reach out to us for more help and support.

If you want to know more about Square Root and our maths tutoring sessions, do not hesitate to send us a message or call us on +61 3 9999 2881 or get in contact via our contact page

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