Calculators in Lab Calculus

Current Policy

The calculator which we provide to teachers and lab assistants and for which we provide students support is the TI-83. This calculator was chosen because many students already own it, it's easy to use, and it gets the job done. It also does not do "too much." We allow students to use other approved calculators if they can prove that they are proficient with the other calculator and that the other calculator has required features. You can read more details on the web page Summary of Calculator Requirements in First-year Mathematics which is posted where students can read it.

Calculator Drill and Calculator Proficiency Test

The Calculator Drill is put in the lab manual so we can assign practice problems to prepare students for labs that require certain calculator skills.

The Calculator Proficiency Test is the test we give to students who want to use a calculator which we allow but which we do not support.

Banned Calculators

We ban certain calculators from our final exams because they are too powerful. At present we do not allow any calculators which can do symbolic integration. The ones currently known to fit this category are the TI-89 and the TI-92.

Other Known Acceptable Calculators

The TI-83+ and the TI-86 are acceptable. Lab assistants generally will not be able to help with the TI-86, and transferring data between a TI-83 and a TI-86 may not work. Such transfers are not done often, and a reasonable work-around is simply to enter data manually.

TI has just come out (summer 2004) with a TI-84. As far as we can tell now, we will allow it to be used. The TI-84 appears to be similar enough to the TI-83 that providing technical help to students may be possible.

Background

Our present policy has evolved over several years, as we experimented with various policies regarding the calculators. Here's a summary of the evolution of our current situation with calculators.

1. Computer Labs: Computer labs were used in the late 80's. At that time there weren't enough labs, and scheduling was difficult. The network was not reliable, and an entire lab could be lost because of a quirky network. This may be revisited someday now that there are more labs, many students have laptops, and of course, the networks are reliable.
2. Specific Calculator: This policy made labs easier to set up, because they could be in almost any room. We used canned software, which had it advantages, and our lab assistants knew exactly what to prepare for. However, there was a slow learning curve for many students with respect to calculator proficiency. But the biggest complaint was that students may have already owned a different calculator, and we made them purchase another one. There were many complaints about this policy.
3. Any Calculator: For a brief period we allowed students to use any calculator they pleased. There were many technical problems which arose in labs, because we were not able to provide technical support for most of the calculators. We quickly changed this policy.
4. Present Policy: Taking into account our experience with the last two policies, we decided to tell students that the TI-83 is the calculator of choice for our labs. We tell them that we know that calculator can do the job, and we tell them that we can provide assistance in using the TI-83 in lab. If they have another calculator which they would rather use, then they prove to us that they do not need help with the calculator by passing the "Calculator Proficiency Test." If they cannot do the Proficiency Test with their calculator, then they are required to make the switch.
This strategy has worked very well. We rarely get a complaint about the policy, and the Proficiency Test has been more effective than we had predicted. In most cases we don't even have to check the test after a student has taken it. The student usually knows whether his/her calculator is going to work out before the test is completed. We usually don't even have to check the result.