Why is year 7 the perfect time to introduce scientific calculators?

Two-thirds of GCSE maths papers allow calculators. Why aren’t we seeing the same amount of time spent using calculators in secondary school classrooms?

This was one of the key points made by Claire Clay, Lead Practitioner for Maths at Ormiston Academies Trust, when we spoke to her recently about giving students the best possible start in their secondary maths education.

Claire shared her thoughts on some of the most effective ways to use scientific calculators in key stage 3 and how students of all abilities can take advantage of the Casio fx-83GT CW.

Supporting all students

Making the scientific calculator a familiar and frequently used tool in the classroom can help teachers manage a common challenge: catering to varying needs and abilities.

Lots of students are already strong mathematicians when they come into year 7. Introducing them to a scientific calculator can be an effective way to build engagement and curiosity by showing them things they have never seen before.

Sexagesimal conversion is a good example. When students understand this relates to time, they can experiment with using the calculator to convert decimal calculation results into hours, minutes and seconds, giving them a new way to approach any problem involving time.

Other children coming into year 7 will find maths a big challenge, and these students could have even more to gain from using a scientific calculator. It gives them the power to check their own work and get instant feedback on whether they’re on the right track, without always having to rely on the teacher.

Claire said: “For some students, the biggest barrier to learning is actually the calculation itself, and that shouldn’t be the case. As long as the calculation isn’t the main focus of the lesson, we should remove that barrier.

“The calculator does that for students who struggle with calculations. It can also be used to give instant feedback, and to stretch and extend those who need more of a challenge.”

When it comes to how and when calculators should be available in the classroom, there are clear benefits to having them out at all times.

This doesn’t necessarily mean they’re always being used, but Claire argued that the onus should be on the teacher to tell students when they can’t use a calculator, rather than the students to ask when they can.

Applications of the fx-83GT CW

Claire also offered some practical tips on using the fx-83GT CW, our entry-level scientific calculator.

The already mentioned sexagesimal conversion is found within the calculator’s Format menu, which is among the changes made as part of the recent upgrade to the ClassWiz range.

As soon as they’re comfortable with how the Format key works – something that tends to happen very quickly with year 7s – students can also use it to explore prime factorisation and converting values into decimals, improper fractions and other formats.

On a similar note, the statistics table functionality on the fx-83GT CW offers a compelling way to introduce students to sorting fractions, decimals and percentages. Values can be entered in any of these formats and automatically converted into decimals within the table, showing students that the values need to be in a consistent format before they can be sorted.

Then, as they scroll through the table, students will see if the value was originally entered as a fraction or a percentage, helping them compare it to its decimal form.

As they scroll through the table, students will see fractions shown as they were entered, helping them to compare it to its decimal form.

Elsewhere, there are dedicated tools for displaying inequalities on a number line, determining highest common factors and lowest common multiples, performing ratio calculations, experimenting with probabilities and more.

The next step up from the fx-83GT CW is the fx-991CW, our most advanced scientific calculator.

Claire noted this handset is often viewed as an A-level maths calculator, but it’s a perfectly valid and powerful option for GCSE, particularly for higher-ability students who might start looking at topics like simultaneous and quadratic equations in year 9.

Recommended scientific calculator resources

Our scientific calculators don’t exist in isolation. We’ve built a broad network of resources and support tools designed to help you get the best out of whichever model you’re using.

At the top of Claire’s list was emulator software.

“For me, the emulator is an absolute must in every single classroom, and a lot of teachers don’t realise that if you have a Casio scientific calculator, you can get a licence for the emulator,” she said.

ClassPad is a web-based teaching and learning environment that combines the ClassWiz emulator with various other tools, including graphing, shape-drawing and sticky notes capabilities.

Claire has also produced some resources of her own, including a collection of more than 100 information cards and videos showing how to execute various tasks and operations on the fx-83GT CW.

These are all available for free on Google Drive.

You can also get help with just about everything our calculators can do on YouTube, either on the Casio Education channel or from other content creators such as The Calculator Guide. If you have more specific questions about your school’s technology needs, just get in touch and we’ll see how we can help