I'm going to speak from the role of recent graduate in Software Engineering, a strong focus on math here...
1) Visualization of mathematical concepts is a skill that many students simply lack. When someone asks me to crunch out 1.5 * 3.67 mentally I don't see much of an issue because its a simple concept for me to break it down and go 3/2 * 11/3 and work from there. Many people don't make the connection and the root of that issue exists beyond the whole calculator discussion in my honest opinion.
2) The first reply on that page is a very important one, students with a strong mathematical foundation are found in the natural sciences. It is rare to find students practicing strong math skills outside of these faculties. Its the same argument we saw with Engineers lacking english language skills, the students who excel in that field are drawn that way so its only natural to have some deficiencies.
3) Profs from a different generation gap are part of the problem in the idea that they're slow to adopt a technology-centric system. My honest opinion is that formula sheets should be allowed in all exams with the criteria that: i) they're hand-written ii) they're of limited length (1 standard 8.5x11 sheet of paper, single sided) and iii) no photo-copies This forces students to look at the information they've been given and make rational decisions for what formula are important, which ones can be memorized, and enforces studying. My electrostatics course forced memorization on us and I spent more time shoving formulas into my noggin instead of applying concepts to solve actual problems. As soon as the final was complete those formuli leaked from my brain onto the floor and are now forgotten. I honestly wish I was allowed more time to solve problems then to attempt memorization.
Basically what I mean to say when I state that "profs are slow to adapt" is that we live in a technology centered world now. Information such as formula or constants are accessable almost instantly from google and the likes so instead of using valuable time to have students memorize these things time would be spent better if they allowed "cheat-sheets" and instead required a higher amount of work or knowledge per semester. I'd gladly trade the time spent memorizing different formula for magnetic flux in favor of another two or three chapters from the book giving more than the "ideal scenario" cases we were given.
1) Visualization of mathematical concepts is a skill that many students simply lack. When someone asks me to crunch out 1.5 * 3.67 mentally I don't see much of an issue because its a simple concept for me to break it down and go 3/2 * 11/3 and work from there. Many people don't make the connection and the root of that issue exists beyond the whole calculator discussion in my honest opinion.
2) The first reply on that page is a very important one, students with a strong mathematical foundation are found in the natural sciences. It is rare to find students practicing strong math skills outside of these faculties. Its the same argument we saw with Engineers lacking english language skills, the students who excel in that field are drawn that way so its only natural to have some deficiencies.
3) Profs from a different generation gap are part of the problem in the idea that they're slow to adopt a technology-centric system. My honest opinion is that formula sheets should be allowed in all exams with the criteria that: i) they're hand-written ii) they're of limited length (1 standard 8.5x11 sheet of paper, single sided) and iii) no photo-copies This forces students to look at the information they've been given and make rational decisions for what formula are important, which ones can be memorized, and enforces studying. My electrostatics course forced memorization on us and I spent more time shoving formulas into my noggin instead of applying concepts to solve actual problems. As soon as the final was complete those formuli leaked from my brain onto the floor and are now forgotten. I honestly wish I was allowed more time to solve problems then to attempt memorization.
Basically what I mean to say when I state that "profs are slow to adapt" is that we live in a technology centered world now. Information such as formula or constants are accessable almost instantly from google and the likes so instead of using valuable time to have students memorize these things time would be spent better if they allowed "cheat-sheets" and instead required a higher amount of work or knowledge per semester. I'd gladly trade the time spent memorizing different formula for magnetic flux in favor of another two or three chapters from the book giving more than the "ideal scenario" cases we were given.