Holly Eckard

Education 501
Action Research Write-Up
Section 1-Identification of the Problem
The problem addressed through this research is the matter of the
use of calculators in middle school mathematics classroom serves as
an aid or crutch for students learning core concepts. The reason this is
my choice for study is because I plan to work in a middle school math
classroom after I graduate and the issue with calculator use has been a
topic of discussion for a while now. I wanted to see for myself what
affect calculators had on students in order to base a decision on
whether to enforce their use in my own classroom. This work can also
benefit others on the topic to show additional research to help others
make the same decision I want to make.
Section 2-Action Plan
My plan of action to better understand the use of calculators and
their affects on students was to use two classrooms, similar in
characteristics of the students, and while teaching the same lesson to
both, have one class use calculators while the other did not. Before
and after the lesson was taught I tested the students based on time
and the efficiency of the scores. This lesson and testing was done in a
two-week time period to fulfill the necessary requirements for each
lesson.
Section 3-Data Collection
Based on the literature review I collected before coming up with
this experiment I was able to get a better idea for the way in which I
should conduct this study and collect data. For this study I collected
statistics based on the scoring percentage of each of the post- and

pretests. I also analyzed the time it took each student to complete the
tests in order to compare whether calculators helped save time and
even see if the students who did not use calculators improved their
skills over time.
Section 4-Data Analysis
From this data, I came to the conclusion that calculators do seem
to have an affect on students for the better resulting in better test
scores as well as being more time efficient. The data found was
however, not extremely drastic between the two different classes
making it hard to fully conclude that calculators are better for students
in the long run.
Section 5-Future Action
The implications this study suggests is that regardless of whether
students use calculators or not, it all depends on the type of student
and calculators have different impacts on different students.
Calculators are a nice tool to use, though I feel that students should be
able to solve most problems by themselves without the use of
calculators. I would recommend additional research to be done to
come up with a better conclusion than what this study has shown. I
would also advice further studies that last longer and collect data
throughout the lives of students to see their true understanding of the
material they learn to shown whether they are in fact helpful or more
of a crutch to students.