Calculators are great and accessible tools to get learners of all ages comfortable with numbers and how they work together. Even before introducing basic operations (+ − × ÷), calculators can be used to demonstrate repeating number patterns, such as counting and skip counting.
To achieve this, a calculator is provided to the learner to use. After becoming comfortable with pressing buttons and seeing how they affect the display, they are given the following instruction:
[1 + 1] means “one add one” or “adding another one”
[=] shows the answer
Press [=] to keep adding one
For more advanced learners, the same logic is used on other numbers to represent skip counting by 2s, 3s, 5s, and even 10s.
Using a calculator is exciting for many learners, and the act of seeing the display change when buttons get pressed promotes the recognition of patterns. It is also a great approach for tactile learners.
This activity also helps overcome a common trouble spot for learners, where they often stumble or stop when they reach a number they aren’t comfortable with, by providing an infinite sequence.
As well as being a powerful mathematical tool, calculators can be a great way of communicating numbers without having to articulate or write them. This could be as simple as representing a learners age, number of collections, days till the weekend, and more.
Before individually exploring calculators, the activity and tool are introduced in a while group setting. This often includes counting (or skip counting) together as a class as the calculator is projected.
There are also many other ways that calculator fun incorporates group discussion and teamwork. Some activities and prompting questions include:
Who can ‘calculator count’ to 100 the fastest?
What's the biggest number you can make on the calculator?
What do you notice about the number pattern when we count by 2s, 5s, or 10s?
Can you show your age/house number/number of books you have…?
Access to a new tool and skill promotes learner confidence to explore creative ways to use their new counting skills.
Learners who may have previously struggled with counting, (or wanted to extend themselves), will be proud of their new ‘calculator counting’. Not only will learners be given the opportunity to count to larger and larger numbers, but also explore how these numbers and number patterns exist in the larger framework of the world.
Whether that's by:
Counting collections
Exploring the numbers they know (like house or phone numbers, age, prices, etc)
Or by observing new and exciting maths such as subtraction or multiplication
Access to calculators and calculator counting is sure to excite learners and engage them in a new or deeper curiosity into how maths impacts them.
Calculators and calculator counting are great enabling tools for mathematical inquiry, providing a new way for learners to explore number ideas and solve questions that they have about the world. Some examples of this could be:
Using calculator counting to tally objects in collections
Using skip counting to solve problems like “how many chair legs are there in the room (4+4+4+.....)”
Representing numbers in the learners life
This is also an opportunity for learners to begin their exploration of other mathematical concepts, such as basic mathamatical operations (+ − × ÷), place value, etc.
A valuble extention task for more advanced learners is beggining to count or skip count from any starting point. That can be facilitated using calculator counting, eg skip counting by 3s starting from 100 (100+3=,=,=). Further, any skills practiced on using the calulator can be practiced under in lots of different ways, such as reciting together as a class or transitioning to one of the other resources.
Foot Notes:
Strategies for calculator counting are based on current education guidlines and litriture:
Groves, S., & Cheeseman, J. (1995). Beyond Expectations: Using calculators with young children. Set: Research Information For Teachers, (1), 1-4. https://doi.org/10.18296/set.0928
Huinker, D. (2002). Calculators as Learning Tools for Young Children's Explorations of Number. Teaching Children Mathematics, 8(6), 316-321. https://doi.org/10.5951/tcm.8.6.0316