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Where has the SD button gone?
So far in this series of blogs I have talked a lot about using the calculator more in lessons, but I think now is the time to start looking at the new Casio fx-83GT CW in more detail.
There is a lot of bad press out there amongst those of us who have started to use the new classwiz range but I'm is it now time to adjust to the fact that it is here and now we need to learn how to use it? After all I'm not completely convinced that all teachers new how to use all of the functions on the last version, and do you remember when that first arrived and we had to press the SD button to get a decimal, I think at the time there were a few grumbles about having to press another button to get the decimal answer...(maybe that was just me)...but we soon got used to it.
So what's new? The first change to be aware of is there is no equals sign instead there is an execute button and there is no SD button but instead we have a format button.
WHAT!! - where's that gone?
The main thing to understand about the new fx-83GT CW is that instead of having fixed menus behind the buttons on the calculator there are now 3 menus that change depending on what you are doing. Today I want to look at the first one of these, the format button. (Right next to execute)
In my 2nd blog I looked at using a calculator to mark work and how important it is to give students time to practise using the basic buttons on the calculator. I also looked at using the format button to change a fractional answer to a decimal. But lets look at that menu again.
When we calculate 18 divided by 4 the calculator gives you these options.
But now lets change the calculation, put in your calculator 12+12, press execute and now look what options you get in the format menu. The menu gives you a new option. Prime Factor. This is where the prime factor button has gone.
Now at this point there may be people saying, "what prime factor button?"
Last year in one of the schools I visited I met some year 11 students the day before their Pearson Paper 2 GCSE and they were not aware of this button either and they are not the only ones.
See my instruction cards below for old v new.
So what else is in the format menu?
Use your calculator now to type in two thirds using you fraction button and press execute. Now press format, can you see the menu has changed again?
Here the menu has instinctively recognised that the answer could be a recurring decimal and has added this as an option to the list.
Standard
Decimal
Recurring decimal
So what else is there on the format button? Scroll down, past ENG Notation to Sexagesimal (relating to the number 60).
When you press this you get the display shown which reads 0 hours, 40 minutes, and 0 seconds.
Converting the fraction to time. Again I know that time was on the old version of the calculator but I like that this is now an option in the menu. More on that another time....!
The more I play with this menu the more intrigued I am and the more I think about how teachers in other subjects in my schools other than maths may need to start learning how to you this calculator too. I can also see how this new classwiz range takes away a lot of the cognitive overload that some pupils felt when looking at the range of colours and symbols splashed all over the buttons on the older versions.
So try it and see what you find.
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