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New calculators put Austintown Fitch math students on the cutting edge
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Sylvestry Gibbs, Fitch senior, uses nspire device in his math class
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Fitch math teacher Tom Reardon demonstrates use of nspire, a device used in his math class.
By Elise Franco
Fitch was chosen as one of 10 schools in the U.S. and Canada to test new Texas Instruments technology.
AUSTINTOWN — For juniors and seniors at Austintown Fitch High School, long gone are the days of paper flash cards and notebooks full of mathematical jibberish.
Students in Tom Reardon’s Advanced Math classes are testing a new way to learn about trigonometric functions using Texas Instruments TI-Nspire CAS calculator.
Reardon, who’s taught at Fitch for 35 years, said the TI-Nspire, the newest version of the graphing calculator, is not only a great tool for students to learn, but it saves time during class, allowing for more material to be covered.
“Students can save their work as a file right on the calculator,” he said. “And I can create files ahead of time and send them right to the students in seconds.”
Reardon has been working with Texas Instruments technology since the early ’90s. He said Fitch is one of 10 high schools in the United States and Canada to test the new calculators.
“I work with Texas Instruments a lot, and they chose people who they felt were keenest to this technology,” he said.
Reardon said the device, which retails for between $140 and $180 depending on where it is purchased, has five modes: calculator, spread sheet, graphs, data and statistics, and word processor.
Reardon said instead of taking notes, his students can see exactly what he is doing on a jumbo-size likeness of the Nspire.
The calculator is emulated onto a computerized chalkboard, called a SMART Board, where he can take still shots of each step of a problem. Students can save the stills to their devices.
“As I see it, when I teach, time is [at a] premium,” Reardon said. “Every class, I teach two examples. ... They are created the day before, and I show them as kind of a Power- Point” presentation.
He said this helps students focus on one thing at a time during class. He also said it allows them to go back to any step they feel they need to see more of.
He said since Fitch started using the Nspire three years ago, he’s seen an improvement in students’ grades, especially this year.
“This is the first year at Fitch we’re not letting students drop classes,” Reardon said. “Surprisingly, grades are better.”
He said more of the students who would normally drop his advanced class because of poorer performance are jumping up one or two letter grades.
“My students are getting mostly A’s, B’s and C’s,” Reardon said. “They have a better understanding of the material, and it definitely keeps them more engaged.”
He said Fitch’s algebra and geometry classes have also adopted a version of the Nspire with fewer “bells and whistles.”
“It doesn’t have the Computer Algebra System,” Reardon said.
Miranda Weaver, 17, said she’s seen improvement in her work since the beginning of the school year.
“They help you a lot more with homework,” she said. “If you don’t understand something, all the notes and the steps are right there.”
Weaver said her biggest problem with math was that she didn’t know how to study properly.
Reardon “puts flash cards right on the calculators, and that helps out a lot,” she said. “I like being able to save homework. ... I can go back to it.”
Sylvester Gibbs, 18, said he likes not having to carry a notebook around with him.
“You don’t have to go back in a notebook and look up notes,” he said. “It’s all right there on the calculator.”
efranco@vindy.com