Before I started teaching I was completely for calculators in the classroom. My argument was that if people are always had access to some form of calculator, whether it be a calculator or a phone, then why should we take the calculators away from our students in class. The problem is when students use calculators in class, a teacher is not always reaching their objective. If the objective of a lesson is to find the domain and range of functions and students use their graphing calculator to view the graph visually to help them find what they are looking for, then they are still reaching their objective. They must know what the domain and range means and how to find it in order to find it on a graph.
If the objective of a lesson is to find what you would get if you multiply combinations of negative number and positive numbers, then students that use the calculators to solve are not going to reach their objective. They will just be using the calculator to find answers and not necessarily use it as a helping device.
Many times calculators block learning in a classroom, but other times it can be a useful tool to incorporate in a lesson. Teachers should ask themselves if calculators are stopping their students from reaching their objective and if this is so, students should not be allowed to use the calculator for that specific lesson.
