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I've been a math and science teacher for the last 25 years. I have always told students they could use whatever device worked for them, and I have alway been ve

by japhyr 7y ago

I've been a math and science teacher for the last 25 years. I have always told students they could use whatever device worked for them, and I have alway been very clear that the only reason TI calculators are so prevalent is because the test-taking companies require them. The only time I have encouraged their use is for students who are going to take a test that requires them, and even then they should only use them enough to know how they work. There are much better tools for learning and exploring many areas of mathematics. For students who don't have a specific device they wanted to use, I steered most of them over the past few years to https://www.desmos.com/calculator https://www.desmos.com/calculator.

UncleSlacky 7y ago
GeoGebra is quite widely used (at least in France, AFAIK): https://www.geogebra.org/ https://www.geogebra.org/
- read_if_gay_ 7y ago
  Same in Germany and Austria in my experience. Probably a European thing?
computator 7y ago
I never heard of Desmos until now; it looks like an outstanding educational tool with pages and pages of exercises, demos, and aids for teaching math. But I can't fathom how they make money. Their "about" page lists 29 high-qualification employees, and they're located in a high-cost city (San Francisco). If the loaded cost of each employee is $150K, they'd have to make $4.3 million a year just to pay salaries and overhead. I can't find a single item on their website that has a price listed: everything is free! They don't even have ads. They talk about partnerships and such, but I can't figure out how they charge money and what they charge for. Public schools are stingy when it comes to learning aids; teaching math is not in the same category like spending for a football stadium. There are 56 million elementary, middle, and high schools in the U.S.[1]. If they charged $1 per student in some partnership deal, they have to sign up at least 7% of the entire U.S. student body just to meet payroll and overhead. Don't get me wrong, their software looks absolutely wonderful, but I don't understand the business case. [1] https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372#PK12_enrollment https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372#PK12_enroll...
- bchanudet 7y ago
  Their business model is actually described in the article: > “Our business model is the exact opposite of TI’s,” says Luberoff: “Their model has always been to give [tech] away for free to textbook companies and force families to buy it at a premium price; our model is to give [tech] away for free to students, and charge textbook companies to integrate it.” It must have been a challenge to convince textbook companies to pay for something they always got free with TI, but I suppose the network effect had a big role there, and also printing a QR code to an already-prepared graph on desmos must be easier than writing a complete set of instructions to get the same graph on your calculator, even if you limit yourself to one model.

by japhyr 7y ago

UncleSlacky 7y ago

GeoGebra is quite widely used (at least in France, AFAIK): https://www.geogebra.org/ https://www.geogebra.org/

read_if_gay_ 7y ago
Same in Germany and Austria in my experience. Probably a European thing?

computator 7y ago

I never heard of Desmos until now; it looks like an outstanding educational tool with pages and pages of exercises, demos, and aids for teaching math. But I can't fathom how they make money. Their "about" page lists 29 high-qualification employees, and they're located in a high-cost city (San Francisco). If the loaded cost of each employee is $150K, they'd have to make $4.3 million a year just to pay salaries and overhead. I can't find a single item on their website that has a price listed: everything is free! They don't even have ads. They talk about partnerships and such, but I can't figure out how they charge money and what they charge for. Public schools are stingy when it comes to learning aids; teaching math is not in the same category like spending for a football stadium. There are 56 million elementary, middle, and high schools in the U.S.[1]. If they charged $1 per student in some partnership deal, they have to sign up at least 7% of the entire U.S. student body just to meet payroll and overhead. Don't get me wrong, their software looks absolutely wonderful, but I don't understand the business case. [1] https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372#PK12_enrollment https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372#PK12_enroll...

bchanudet 7y ago
Their business model is actually described in the article: > “Our business model is the exact opposite of TI’s,” says Luberoff: “Their model has always been to give [tech] away for free to textbook companies and force families to buy it at a premium price; our model is to give [tech] away for free to students, and charge textbook companies to integrate it.” It must have been a challenge to convince textbook companies to pay for something they always got free with TI, but I suppose the network effect had a big role there, and also printing a QR code to an already-prepared graph on desmos must be easier than writing a complete set of instructions to get the same graph on your calculator, even if you limit yourself to one model.