Electronic Proceedings of the Thirteenth Annual International Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics

Atlanta, Georgia, November 16-19, 2000

Paper C032

How to make tests for students that are using CAS tool (TI89)

Bengt Ahlander


Solangen 4613
Trollhattan, 46193
Sweden
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ABSTRACT

Questions like 'What are the roots of the equation x2-6x+5=0?' are not testing understanding if you use the TI-89. But if you give the students the answer that the roots to a quadratic equation are x=5 and x=1, then you ask the students to give an equation that will give these answers. This is a kind of jeopardy in math testing: do they really have the understanding behind the solutions of quadratic equations?

Keyword(s): graphing calculators, college algebra, TI-89, assessment