I gave my students iPads – then wished I could take them back

Re:I gave my students iPads – then wished I could take them ... by thearn4 on Monday December 07, 2015 @09:44AM (#10689722)

That's too application focused. The primary value of arithmetic is that it forces you to exercise parts of your mind in a way which would otherwise be difficult.

The same can be said of general mathematics, and literary analysis, etc.

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Re:I gave my students iPads – then wished I could take them ... by marcosdumay on Monday December 07, 2015 @11:01AM (#10690194)

Hum, basic arithmetics is mechanical repetition. There may be some benefit to the brain in doing it, but I'm doubting it until I get evidence.

The main benefit is that knowing arithmetics well makes higher mathematics easier to learn. That's because one won't get distracted doing calculations. That's still true on the calculator era, just a bit less so, thus I do think it's important to learn arithmetics... It just the "it improves your brain" that I find highly suspect.

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