1.3 Learning about rational and irrational numbers with changing scientific calculators (Barry Kissane – Murdoch University, WA)

Although rational and irrational numbers are key elements of the Number strand of the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics, little guidance is offered in the official documents or in most textbooks on the place of calculators to support the associated learning. This workshop explores some opportunities presented by modern scientific calculators, highlighting incidentally the frequent misunderstanding of calculators as devices mostly of value for computation. (Year 6-10)