#7 - Enthusiasm for the use of calculators in the learning

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Strengthen. The correct answer choice is (C)

The stimulus begins by expressing the author's reservations with the wide-spread use of calculators in the classroom, and ends by reiterating her main point. While she acknowledges that calculators can sometimes enable students to focus on the general principles at hand, the author argues that remembering these principles is still a matter of habit that requires tedious and painstaking work to cultivate.

This argument is solid, as long as we agree with its presumption that remembering a principle is more valuable than the ease with which we acquire it. What if our ability to painlessly master principles is more pedagogically useful than the ability to retain information about them in the long run? If true, this would defend the use of calculators in the classroom and weaken the author's conclusion.

Answer choice (A): Students' thorough understanding of the mathematical principles that calculators obey provides no indication of how easily they are able to remember them. Furthermore, if thorough understanding is indeed possible despite the use of calculators, why not allow unlimited use of calculators? Because this answer choice does the exact opposite of what is needed, it is incorrect.

Answer choice (B): While this answer choice draws an analogy between the widespread use of calculators and the use of slide rules in the past, it gives no indication as to whether slide rules increased the likelihood of remembering mathematical principles or not.

Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer choice. If retaining the knowledge of mathematical principles is far more important than the acquisition of such knowledge, and calculators obviate the need to perform the painstaking work required for principle retention, then perhaps it is reasonable to restrict their use.

Answer choice (D): If painless mastery of habits were more valuable than tedious work, the author's recommendation would be weakened. Because this answer choice does the exact opposite of what is needed, it is incorrect.

Answer choice (E): If the author's conclusion is correct, then it may be reasonable to infer that teachers' enthusiasm for new educational aids is not proportional to the pedagogical effectiveness of those devices. A Strengthen question, however, will never ask us to assume that the author's conclusion is true or determine what follows from it (this would be an answer to a Must Be True question); instead, our task here requires the assumption that each answer choice is true, and the subsequent determination of the relative impact of each answer choice upon the conclusion. This answer choice is incorrect.

[lolaSur]

Thank you so much for this explanation. I just want to confirm that I am understanding what is stated in the explanation for why answer E is incorrect.

The explanation here states that " A Strengthen question, however, will never ask us to assume that the author's conclusion is true or determine what follows from it (this would be an answer to a Must Be True question); instead, our task here requires the assumption that each answer choice is true, and the subsequent determination of the relative impact of each answer choice upon the conclusion. This answer choice is incorrect."

Does this mean that we should always expect new information to be introduced in strengthen questions?

Thank you!

(for my reference: L5 A/J/S q46)

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi LolaSur,

Your understanding is correct. Strengthen questions move structurally from the answer choices to the stimulus. We are adding the answer choice to the stimulus in order to help the argument. Typically that requires something new, or additional to help the conclusion of the argument follow. It needs to be relevant new information, but outside information isn't a problem in the help family questions (like strengthen).

Hope that helps!
Rachael

[lolaSur]

Thank you, Rachael. Just to confirm, answer E would be a good MBT answer, but is not correct here because the question is a strengthen question.

For my reference (L5,A,J,S, q46)

[Jeremy Press]

Hi lolaSur,

That's basically correct, though I would note the word "often" in answer choice E makes it a little too strong to be a correct answer to a Must Be True question. Since we're only talking about calculators in the stimulus, we don't know teachers' views of (or approach to) other education aids. So if you wanted to make answer choice E a correct answer on a Must Be True question, you'd have to word it as follows: "Teachers’ enthusiasm for new educational aids is sometimes not proportional to the pedagogical effectiveness of those devices."

I hope this helps!

Jeremy

[Coleman]

Hi,

I have a question about the wording of answer choice (D) which states "Habits that are acquired by laborious and sometimes tedious practice are NOT AS VALUABLE AS those that are painlessly mastered."
I don't understand why this sentence should be translated into a comparative notion: habits acquired by tedious practice are less valuable than painlessly mastered habits.

To clarify this notion, let's make a hypothetical situation that we can numberlize the value of habits we acquired in different ways.
(1) Habits that are acquired by laborious and sometimes tedious practice have a value of 70.
(2) Habits that are painlessly mastered have a value of 30.

In this situation, the original statement of (D) is still valid - (1) are not as valuable as (2) because there is a gap of 40 between those two values. In my understanding, this statement actually includes the idea that there is a possibility that the value of (1) could be larger than (2). I'm confused with the use of "not as much as" or any sentence that has the same pattern. Is this some kind of English rule that I have to follow without question?

[JocelynL]

Hello,
I thought answer C actually weakens the authors conclusion.

The stimulus says that "principles are more likely to be remembered when knowledge of them is grounded in habits in grained by painstaking applications of those principles:. I took this to mean that calculators negatively affect students ability to remember these principles because it removes the tediousness.

I interpreted answer choice C to mean that the tediousness (easily acquired knowledge) is less important.

Can someone please explain where my logic went wrong? I've re-read this a few times and still can't see it.

thanks!

[Adam Tyson]

You bet, Jocelyn!

Your analysis of the stimulus is great - calculators make it less tedious, so students are less likely to remember. And the conclusion, based on that information, is that maybe calculators shouldn't be allowed, or at least that they should be restricted. The author wants students to do the hard work and not have it so easy. Why? Because if it's easy, they won't remember the principles.

Your analysis of answer C is close, but a bit off in that it misses the comparison between tediousness and remembering. Answer C is saying that remembering the principles is more important than things being easy. That supports the author's claim, because the author wants to make it less easy to do that work so that students will remember better. If it is true that remembering is more important than things being easy, then it makes sense to restrict the use of calculators, making the process more tedious.

And Coleman, it looks like you were still waiting on an answer here. I think you're straining the meaning of "not as valuable" here - that phrase means less valuable, rather than simply unequal. Common usage dictates that, even if it is technically true that if A is more valuable than B then it is not as valuable. To interpret it otherwise is to violate the rules laid out in the instructions, which say we "should not make assumptions that are by commonsense standards implausible, superfluous, or incompatible with the package."

But be that as it may, answer D still does nothing to help the argument, because the argument is not about the value of habits, but the value of knowledge. The author prioritizes remembering the principles over being able, in the short term, to apply those principles. So answer D, no matter how you interpret it, is ultimately irrelevant.