Thoughts From a Conference

After returning from the USACAS 9 conference, I reflected on the barriers to incorporating CAS into education.  The most common thing I heard was the technology was not available.  I did not have an answer more than if you get a chance to request technology put it on the list.  I was not satisfied with my answer, so I started thinking.  Where is the CAS?  There is a TI-Nspire CAS app for iPads, TI-Nspire software for computers, and of course the handheld.  Easy right?  Not if you have only $500 or less to spend for everything in your classroom.  If you had to choose between a new computer or CAS, what would you choose?  If your school finally were getting wireless slates/iPads with Doceri, would you decline for CAS?  There are no easy answers to these questions, but maybe there is a compromise.  What if we didn’t push for classroom sets but school sets?  What if we asked for the TI-Nspire CAS app to be placed on the school iPad lab?  What if the one iPad with Doceri we got for our classroom had the CAS app on it?  I think we could still change the classroom environment and open doors.  All administrators look at one thing: prove the students are learning.  All we have to do is prove the students are learning with CAS, and I believe doors will open.  I plan to start by sharing my original TI-Nspire CAS set with fellow teachers.  I have upgraded but refused to let the old ones go.  Now I hope to give new meaning to recycling.

Advertisement