April+26+Homework

Talking Calculators and Assistive Technology in Schools
A great tool that can be used to help students who are struggling with math is a talking calculator. One thing that is great about a talking calculator is that they are very inexpensive. A talking calculator has a speech synthesizer so that each key that you press on the calculator will be said out loud. This will help the person using it make sure that they typed in the right keys. Another nice feature is that it will say the answer out loud for you too. Another cool feature is that most of the calculators come with enlarged fonts to make it easier for the person to read. The calculator also gives you the option of having a male or female voice talk to you and it can also talk in different languages. Teachers use this technology by having the students sit at the back of the classroom during math so they can use the calculators. If the classroom is a regular education classroom and the talking would distract other students the teachers just make the students using the calculator put headphones in so that only the students using it can hear. The students use the calculators during tests, quizzes, and during everyday assignments. The students say that with the calculator math is much easier for them to complete. It may take the students a little longer to do their work, because they are typing the numbers in and then waiting to hear it back. However it is worth it because teachers say that the students work is coming back a lot more accurate. A lot of the students liked the calculators and because they are inexpensive it is possible for them to have them at home. The students also liked how the calculator could do basic math and more advanced math like algebra and trigonometry. The students also liked how it was so easy to use and it did not take much time for them to figure out how the work the calculators.

"Talking Calculators and Assistive Technology in Schools." //Bright Hub//. 30 June 2010. Web. 12 May 2012. .