I say take the calculator away until he can do the math without it. A calculator is a great tool for getting through some of the drudgery of math, but if it’s used before he really understands what he’s doing, it will just contribute to his sense of math as being a series of arbitrary steps that magically arrives at the answer.
I realize that the calculator isn’t the cause of his mistakes; but he’ll never get a good understanding of math if he continues to use the shortcut before he’s ready.
It seems like what you might want to focus on is his estimating skills. Before he figures out an exact answer with the calculator, have him find some reasonable bounds, and estimate an answer. For the bases question, it’s obviously more than 90 and less than 180, so guess halfway between. Then check the answer against his estimate.
I wasn’t mocking them (much ).
If you don’t know how to use an HP calc, you’ll get wrong answers, or no answers at all. Fortunately my dad taught me when I was young.
Very good suggestion. I was just reading about how children are often very good at estimating math answers, but get discouraged whith the heavy emphasis on exactness.
Oh, and Malacandra got the Major-General Song stuck in my head…
I actually think Paul is trying to make the whole experience so miserable that I’ll just throw my hands up and say, “Okay, you don’t have to do math anymore!”
).