DEWALT Mobile Pro iPad Calculator - Demon or Delight?

Note: I have no affiliation with DeWalt - I just love calculators!

This is either the best thing to ever happen to tech school, shop/engineering courses, and applied mathematics, and maker spaces or it will go largely ignored in education.

You have to choose sides with the DEWALT Mobile Pro Calculator - do you think its necessary and helpful for your students to memorize formulas, conversions, and common reference measurements and values, or would you rather take the memorization time and errors away so you can spend more time doing real (ugly, scary, student-centered) stuff? [I know, like I really gave you a choice, eh?]

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
There is so much loaded in this app! It opens right to the main content screen and you find a scrolling menu on the lefthand side that seems to have all of the calculating options.

"Hmm. Pretty extensive," you think. "Wonder when I'll get to the in-app purchases."

And then you keep scrolling. And keep scrolling. I wasn't going to list all of the functions you get for FREE in the app because it's a long list, but look at this!

• Loan Compare
• Notches/Holes, Joists
• Notches/Holes, Studs
• Wall Opening
• Rough Opening
• Studs
• Volumes, Various Shapes
• Areas, Various Shapes
• Perimeters, Various Shapes
• Pythagorean Theorem
• Gross Profit Margin
• Cost of Acquisition
• Marketing ROI
• Trim, Casing
• Trim, Crown Molding
• Trim, Running
• Odd Shape, L
• Odd Shape, U
• Odd Shape, Multiple

The calc has templates AND overviews built in -

Your students can pick up the concepts behind the templates

along the way

[Still there? Keep scrolling!]

• Roof Gable
• Stairs Landing Height
• Baluster Spacing
• Common Differences, Rafter
• Rake Wall
• Roof Underlayment
• Rafter, Common and Jack
• Roof Hip/Valley
• Deck Footing Size
• Roof Conversions
• Deck Boards
• Deck Load
• Roof Shingles/Square
• Roof Dormer Ridge Board
• Stairs
• Ohm's Law
• Floor Joist Span
• Total Gross Wages
• Deck Post
• Calculator
• Concrete Slab
• Drywall, Total LF
• Paint
• Area Conversion
• Auto Lease
• Auto Loan
• Concrete Bags
• Date Conversion
• Discount
• Fuel Efficiency
• Gravel/Stone
• Length Conversion
• Mass Conversion
• Mileage Reimbursement
• Mortgage
• Compound Annual Growth
• Percent Change
• Sales Tax
• Savings

[You can do it! Almost there!]

• Seller's Net
• Temperature Conversion
• Volume Conversion
• Energy Conversion
• Force Conversion
• Power Conversion
• Pressure Conversion
• Velocity Conversion

This list does not even include the more specialized electrical, business, concrete, carpentry, landscaping, etc packs that you can add on.

VERDICT
Much like when students still need to know what to put into formulas on exams when they have formula sheets (statistics, geometry), whoever uses this calculator must still have a brain and know what they're entering into the template and why.

If your goal is to assess students' memorization of facts and figures and hand calculations, then this app isn't for you. I were teaching engineering, electronics, or technical courses, I without a doubt would want my students to download this calculator to their favorite devices. If you are a math or science teacher that wants to explore more project-based learning, this app would answer a ton of your "what do we need to know" questions. If you aim to get your students solving real problems and applying real principals to their problem-solving toolbox, you should give this a try.

At the very least, download it for yourself! (or your favorite tradesman, handyman, or do-it-yourselfer)

Jeff Bliss, Luddites, and Graduation Credits

Just happened upon this editorial from Trinidad and Tobago (you know, that country with the TieDye hockey sweaters in D2: The Mighty Ducks) calling for a new Luddite movement, and I'm not quick to disagree.

Wait, what? 

What's wrong?

This is a math and EDTECH blog. Why are you trying to champion the Luddites?

Do you KNOW about the Luddites, or do you only use the word synonymously for tech haters that make your job training and collaborating more difficult (depressing?)

Luddites were about quality. Is it in your life? Is it in your classroom?

All the championing of teacher-teller-offer Jeff Bliss this week has been largely about his passionate plea for impassioned teaching. I get it. The kids our one-size-fits most educational system hurts most are the ones who burned out once, realize they really want it for themselves, and then remember the whole reason they left in the first place. Sometimes school sucks.

Enter the machines to save the day! Flipped class! Online courses! Blogging! Differentiated objectives!

These are great strategies to turn the industrial system on its head - in the right hands. Online courses are wonderful for students who cannot participate in the time or space of the local traditional school. I love how the flipped class gives more time for peer discussion and productive struggle. Mastery systems that deliver differentiated objectives for individual students and groups lead students in goal setting, self pacing, and reward students who want to work ahead without punishing those that need more time.

None of these matter, however, if teachers and admin just go through the motions, gaming the new systems, getting kids through their new technology-enriched courses while patting themselves on the back with the credits they're rewarding. The teenager in front of you is more than willing to get his credits (that word has me thinking about arcade tokens, which is all I feel like they're worth sometimes) from "passing" that course. Are you REALLY helping them? I'm not sure.

Does Jeff Bliss just want to get through high school? I'm sure he wouldn't hate it, but is that what he deserves? Jeff Bliss wants to star on the movie about his life where he made the choice to return to school and in return found teachers who shared an kind of passion with him.

I don't think Jeff Bliss wants his math teacher to be his best friend, but I do think he wants to know his math teacher isn't counting down the minutes until he's out the door. It doesn't matter how shiny and differentiated our systems are if the teachers (even in online courses) are bland robots going through the motions.

Technology is great, but remember, you're also a craftsman.

Tech Tip: Using Animation for Sharing Procedures And Directions

"Did you read the directions?"

"Yeah." 

"Alright. What's your question about them, then?"

"I don't get it."

"Which part?"

"I don't know."

How many times have you had a conversation like that? As you can tell from my gif there, conversations like that tend to bring out the grumpies in me.

It doesn't have to be that way!  Making quick videos and animations through services like Xtranormal or Go!Animate are an easy way to introduce assignments and projects or to draw your students into the lesson with something other than your (handsome) face.

Take, for instance, this area problem from my Applied Math book. I like it because it has elements of being open-ended, offers some choice for students, and secretly requires some scale factors and unit conversions.

If students don't read the paragraph on top, this is nearly impossible to do "right."

When my students did this problem 1st hour, I had several "I don't get it," questions - way more than I should have.

I knew part of the problem was that they didn't read the information above where #19 is, and some of it was my introduction of the problem (or lack thereof), so during passing time and our Do Now, I made this video on Xtranormal, essentially just copying most of the text from my book for the character to say. This literally took, about, 7 minutes. (And your students will be amazed.)

Pool Design Problem
by: chuckcbaker



A COUPLE OTHER EXAMPLES:
This one I made to introduce our study of minesweeper at Saturday School to improve reasoning
The Minesweeper
by: chuckcbaker

I set up an "interview" to address FAQs on a logarithms project
Functions Log Project FAQ
by: chuckcbaker