-----Original Message-----
From: iank at
vulcan.com
Sent: Sat, 2 Mar 2013 23:07:38 +0000
To: cctalk at
classiccmp.org
Subject: Re: Calculators
On 3/2/13 10:54 AM, "James Gessling" <jgessling at yahoo.com> wrote:
This leads me to my belief that I was the last
slide rule teacher. In
1975, in Ghana, I was teaching A level math as a Peace Corps teacher.
We
had a whole section on slide rule calculations.
Thanks to some agency,
I
think UNICEF, we had one of those 6 foot long
rules that mounted at the
front of the class. The kids really caught on quick and it was a lot of
fun. Especially as the students figured out other things they could do.
Regards, James
In 1977, I graduated from high school as the last class to use slide
rules
instead of calculators. They were throwing away the six foot slide rules
used for teaching, and I was gifted with one. Unfortunately, in the
subsequent nomadic years of my youth I left it behind at some point.
IMHO a slide rule gives one a visual sense of math you just don't get
from
a calculator, especially if you graduate to one of the more complex
models. It's exciting that your Ghana students "figured out other things
they could do" - now that's learning. -- Ian
I can tell you, that as late as 1979, basic slide-rule was taught (using the
aforementioned six-foot-rule) as part of "Introduction to Scientific Method"
which all freshmen had to take at my high school. The rationale was that it
taught students to effectively read scales, and to interpolate values between
tick marks. It also gave them a sense of what a log scale was, and how values
were represented thereon.
After 1980, the school focused its energies on building a dominant football
team, so the six-foot-rule likely hit the dumpster at that time. Sigh. I'm
glad I don't have to deal with high school math/science/whatever in this day
and age...
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