HP Calculator Applications in the Workplace

[Don Shepherd]

(07-14-2014 06:16 AM)Thomas Klemm Wrote:  Do they figure out that they can cheat and enter the difference of 50 and the SCORE?

Some do, but then it ceases to be a game. The solver user interface does not include text output, so you have to settle for beeping if you win and upside-down numbers if you lose.

Quote:PS: Honestly, I think this is the best environment that you can offer as teacher: if the students can figure it out by themselves they are proud and remember it forever.

You're exactly right. What makes it difficult as a teacher is that some kids figure out the winning strategy quickly, and others don't. So you have to compromise.

I have the advantage of teaching at a private boarding school, rather than a public school, which means I define the curriculum (within reason, of course), not the state. So I don't have to teach ridiculous things like box-and-whisker plots or stem-and-leaf plots, which the public schools have to teach because these things are on the standardized tests, which is stupid. Of course, it helps that I am a volunteer teacher. When you teach for money, you have to accept certain undesirable things.