Just How Smart are Smart Pens?

A Smart Pen is a pen with a microphone, built-in speaker and infrared camera that records what you hear or say and links it to what you write and draw.  I have been using mine for several years to create pencasts for my students.  A pencast is an interactive flash movie of your handwritten notes and audio.   However, there are many other educational uses for the smart pen.

In this collaboration project, my teammates and I researched and wrote about the smart pen.  We created an introductory document that tells about the smart pen.  This is accessible to the right in Awesome Links and in the box.com folder below

We also created a powerpoint presentation that gives ideas for how to use it. (See below and in box.com)

 Also available in the box.com folder is an assessment and the summary for the assessment. (see below). 

All new technology experiences problems.  However, none of my pencasts have faded.  Some of the older ones have minor glitches but my middle school students tell me that they like my pencasts better than Khan academy so I must be the one who is smart!

My latest crusade...

This is now personal.  Two of my grandkids are being terrorized by timed tests!  Not only are the tests creating stress and anxiety but also both of them have adopted the false adage that in math, “faster is better.” I am compelled to find out more.

Brain Research

Recent studies have found that kids with the highest amounts of working memory are the ones that are the most susceptible to math anxiety.  Stressful math situations compete and sometimes take over the working memory.  Previously known facts are no longer accessible.  Lack of confidence takes over and the “I’m bad at Math,” attitude sets in.  Students who have the potential to take mathematics to high levels spiral into math aversion.  Yes, there is a physiological reason not to give timed tests, but what does the Common Core say?

The Truth About Timed Tests by Tracey Carisch

The Role Played by Timed Tests in the Development of Math Anxiety by Jo Boaler

Common Core

Second graders must know from memory all sums of two one-digit numbers (2.OA.2) and third graders must know from memory all products of two one-digit numbers (3.OA.7).  But nowhere does the common core give a time frame.  After reading Progressions for the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics K-5 Operations and Algebraic Thinking, it is clear that fluency is important but “this is not a matter of instilling facts divorced from their meanings, but rather as an outcome of a multi-year process that heavily involves the interplay of practice and reasoning.” (pg. 19). 

Bill McCallum, one of the authors of the Common Core, addresses this question.

“It was not our intent to dictate the pedagogical method.  It is no accident that the standard says ‘know from memory’ rather than ‘memorize’.  The first describes an outcome, whereas the second might be seen as describing a method of achieving that outcome.  So no, the standards are not dictating timed tests.  Some curricula might go that route; others might encourage students to build up their knowledge of number facts another way.”

    

Alternatives

So what is a solution?  Luckily one of my granddaughter's teachers agreed to the use of flashcards with her Mom.  But how does a teacher with a classroom full of students guarantee that they “know from memory” their facts?  Any suggestions?