Hanson, K., Brown, B., Levine, R., & Garcia, T. (2001). Should standard calculators be provided in testing situations? An investigation of performance and preference differences . Applied Measurement in Education , 14 (1), 59–72. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15324818AME1401_05
Hanson, K., Brown, B., Levine, R., & Garcia, T. (2001). Should standard calculators be provided in testing situations? An investigation of performance and preference differences. Applied Measurement in Education, 14(1), 59–72. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15324818AME1401_05
Tags
URL
Summary
Accommodation
Students completed tests under two conditions: 1) Using a standard calculator and 2) Using his/her own calculator.
Participants
Fifty grade 8 students participated in the study. Students were of a variety of ethnic, economic, and math backgrounds.
Dependent Variable
A variety of outcome measures were examined. These included:
Problem accuracy - number of National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) items answered correctly, number of simple and complex timed computations correctly completed in a minute.
Calculator use - number of items on which calculator was used, number of keystrokes used, number of pencil and paper calculations for each problem set.
Timing - time to complete each problem set
Confidence - student confidence in answers to NAEP items.
Calculator difficulties - observed and self-reported.
Preference
Student background items - complexity of own calculator, length of ownership of calculator, experience using different calculators.
Findings
No significant differences in accuracy, timing, calculator use, calculator difficulties, or number of keystrokes used were found among the two calculator type conditions. Calculator preferences depended on the complexity of the student's personal calculator. Those with calculators similar to or more complex than the standard calculator preferred their own calculator, whereas those with more simple calculators preferred the standard calculator. Background characteristics (sex, family income, calculator complexity, ethnicity, and difficulty level of the student's last math class were not associated with differences in performance by calculator type.