Using a Calculator
- Luke Bassett
- Dec 10, 2021
- 2 min read
The 'Why': Why does the calculator work the way it does?
This lesson starts with a crossword related to maths literacy. Students need to look at the definition and see if they can remember the literacy. As the calculator can be used for many mathematical functions, it serves as a reminder of words such as "operations" and "remainder" and their meanings.
What follows is a slide with an example calculator on it. As you click around the slide you should be able to click on certain buttons on the calculator. This will link to a slide related to what that button is and it's function. Ask students to select buttons that they are unsure of it's function. This could be a whole lesson in itself as most slides feature an example for students to try. It's worth picking certain slides to show students that will be useful to them going forward for example; how to set the calculator into computation mode.
On Slide 18, are some examples for you to model. If you can, this pairs nicely with a visualiser or if you have a calculator also. Get your students to try along with you. On slide 19 are some more examples for students to try independently. Make sure they write down their answers, not just shout them out!
There is then an exploration task showing about the importance of the correct use of brackets with examples and practice. There is then a money game to get students to understand that currency is in decimal and should be converted as such when put in to a calculator. You will need some dice to be able to play the game on slide 23. This is followed by some worded problems also involving money.
Finally, (as if students didn't know it already!) there are ways to spell words using calculators and turning them upside down. Model this using slide 25 then get students to try finding individual words and then completing calculations to find the missing word. Lastly, there is a complete story to fill in about a day on a farm.
Activities included:
Literacy Crossword
Exploring the Calculator
Calculations examples
Brackets exploration
Money Problems and Game
Worded Money Problems
Fun with Calculators
Calculator story
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