July 27, 2026

Discovering

Unfold what you wish to know

Relevance in Learning

A friend posted the following (segment) on his FB page, and it generated an enjoyable conversation between Cecily and I this morning.

Thierry Billette
“Yesterday, I went to Savers, and bought a TI-84 Plus–a graphing calculator. $5.99. New, it costs around $125… Just now I am updating it with the latest OS, which the previous owner obviously never did. So now, I have a TI-84 PLUS with kids decals and the wrong name engraved in it.
I think it is ridiculous to have schools force kids to buy $100+ calculators. But for $6.00, I let me be tempted…”
  • Gayle Lettenmaier Has math changed that much that the calculators have to be that powerful?
    • Thierry Billette
      Gayle, this is a big question for educators. When I was in highschool, we had to study functions (find max, min, zeroes, limits…) All that can be done at a push of a button nowadays, with no understanding required. Some people say there should be no calculators up to a certain level. Some say slide rules would be good–it forces you to have the notion of magnitude.
      I have no answer. But let me give an example: Should we teach kids how to do a multiplication (with 3, 4… digits)? They all have smartphones. Personally, I have not done a multiplication for a long time–I just use a calculator. So what is the use of learning how to do a multiplication. My point of view: If it is taught just to teach it, it is useless. If it is taught to show properties of the multiplication (we use commutativity, associativity and distribution to addition when we do manual multiplication), then I think it is useful. But how many of us understood what we were doing when we learned it? Personally, I was just following the method (I guess we would say algorithm nowadays) and got the result. It is only much later that I understood what was happening. So to learn how to do multiplication for the sake of it is as useful as learning the egyptian multiplication or the “jalousie” method: Interesting from a cultural geek point of view, but not needed.
      Of course, this is just a point of view.
    • Angie Nixon The way we are educating Lily~ She first has a cause or reason to have a tool provided or gained, which immediately opens her mind not only to being receptive to understanding, but gives enough curiosity to encourage comprehension and retaining. Then when relevant to her, we’ll explore the method just enough that the pattern is obvious. She will take it from there.

      Our role? Explaining, modeling, and giving her awareness as to what, why, and how it may be relevant now and/or in the future, beyond what she us already aware of.

      Her base of knowledge is, at her current development and age, nearly that of a child double her years. She is not learning in a predetermined pattern, instead she simply absorbs everything she comes into contact with that her mind’s current level of development can do something with. And since curiosity drives this, backed by two (or more) caring and older humans to provide security, her confidence soars and her mind continually expands. Effortlessly.

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