Once upon a time there was the abacus. Then the slide rule. By the time I entered high school, handy multi-function calculators were all the rage (pictured at left is a TI-30, circa 1976). Calculating machines, like other technological tools, have slowly become more sophisticated.

Slowly, that is, until the computer age took hold. Today’s calculators are no less than specialized mini-computers, designed to assist scientists–and students–in performing complex calculations and solving mathematical and scientific problems. What’s more, these calculating ‘systems’ can easily be networked, making the once silent, straight-rowed math class an interactive, responsive mathematics lab! Take a one-minute peek into Kathleen Robeson’s room at Fishers High School to see how TI-Nspire^TM calculators and the CX Navigator System^TM combined with the leadership of an excellent teacher, have transformed instruction.

*Image sources: Wikimedia Commons