Why QAMA
At all stages students provide results of calculations by using little or no understanding:
- Initially, producing results of very simple calculations from memory alone,
- Later, performing manual calculations by rote without necessarily understanding the processes,
- Finally, from the moment they use calculators they stop using their heads altogether (but calculators cannot be removed from classrooms - they are indispensible because many results can only be received from calculators e.g. root7, cosine70 etc.).
The detrimental effect of the above on maths education is well known, and it therefore requires an inventive solution:
A calculator into which one enters anything one would enter into normal (also scientific) calculators, but when the ‘=’ key is pressed nothing happens: The user must also enter a mental estimate, and if the calculator appraises the estimate as reasonable for the respective calculation – only then it shows the precise answer.
In classrooms where QAMA is the admissible calculator, students will no longer touch a calculator without using their heads too.
The name QAMA derives from Quick Approximate Mental Arithmetic, but QAMA also happens to be a word in Hebrew. It means:
“How Much?"
From the start, trials have produced phenomenal results - in estimation performance and, more importantly, understanding. Moreover, students actually enjoy the challenge and the success.