Congratulations to Pat Ramey!

Math has never been my strong point, although I suspect that I would probably enjoy the logic of it more now, after years of dealing with unruly toddlers, than I did in high school. During high school I insisted that I absolutely would not need math outside of school. I should have known that would come back to bite me. I went to school to be an English teacher and ended up with a job teaching math. I stayed one chapter ahead of my students so they wouldn’t discover my secret – I failed algebra and had to go to summer school.

Now I see math in nearly everything I do and if I could go back in time and knock my teenage self in the head and tell her to pay a bit more attention I would. I’m trying to make up for the fact that I read through half the fiction section of the library during my algebra class by helping my kids learn to appreciate math earlier on. They’ll need a good attitude about math to succeed in school and beyond. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress 2008 report card, the number of 17 year olds taking pre-calculus or calculus has tripled over the last 30 years. I suspect that’s largely because so many of the high paying jobs require advanced math skills.

The T1-Nspire from Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments sent one of their amazing T1-Nspire graphing calculators over for us to review. Due to all the heavy fiction reading I did during my high school math classes, I had to turn the T1-Nspire over to my husband for a really detailed review. He says:

In the 6th grade, I received my first Texas Instruments Graphing Calculator.  My school had just started a trial program of teaching an advanced math class in Pre-Algebra and as a requirement of the program, I needed a TI-81.  I used that calculator through that year, into middle school and even on to high school AP Calculus.  Needless to say I spent many, many hours using that calculator to solve complicated math problems in my Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry and Calculus courses.

In college, I bought a TI-89. I suspect that had I been able to find what I did with my TI-81, it probably would have been able to do many of the functions that I was performing in my upper level Calculus and Physics courses but the TI-89 added specific Electrical Engineering capabilities that I required.  Once again, my TI calculator became one of my most used educational tools.

Recently, Texas Instruments sent me the TI-Nspire with touchpad.  While these calculators have always been handheld computers (I even remember programming mine to play games in high school), this is by far the closest to a laptop computer that I have ever seen.  I say this because it actually has a small laptop-like touchpad that navigates the cursor across the screen and through the drop down Windows-like menus (which would have been great for PacMan).  In all honesty, it works quite well for navigating through graphs and menus.  The directions stated that I needed to update the calculator’s operating system the first time I plugged it into my computer but all I did was click “yes” to update.

The TI-Nspire’s large, high-resolution screen allows for useful zooming on graphs without becoming too pixelated.  It also has 20MB of onboard storage so students can create, save and edit their work similar to the word processing and file storage of a PC.

A very unique aspect of the TI-Nspire is its ability to adapt to the student’s needs through interchangeable keypads and modes.  The calculator comes with the TI-Nspire keypad but they will send you a TI-84 Plus interchangeable keypad free-of-charge if you fill out their online request form.  The calculator also includes several other built-in modes so it can emulate calculators such as a TI-83 Plus along with software for emulation on a PC or Mac.Texas Instruments states that this calculator can be used on the SAT, ACT, AP, IB and a growing number of state-wide math exams.

Enter to Win

As we move into another school year, Texas Instruments wants to help your child start out right by providing one Busy Mommy Media reader with a Math Makeover Kit (nearly $200 value). The Math Makeover Kit includes:

• A new TI-Nspire with Touchpad – this also includes the new computer software so students can bring their graphing calculator experience to a PC or Mac.
• 60 free minutes at Tutor.com.
• Several other fun items, including T-shirts, water bottles and cell phone charms.

This giveaway is open to the U.S. only and will end on Sept. 6, 2010

In compliance with the FTC Guildlines, please note that this is a sponsored post.  I was given a T1-Nspire to review free of charge, however, I was not paid for the review and the opinions are my own.Please see our site’s Terms and Conditions for a complete list of our contest and giveaway rules.

This Giveaway is now closed. Thanks for entering.

Additional Giveaway Entries

Earn additional giveaway entries by doing one or all of the following. Comment on this post to let us know each time you earn an additional entry.

1. Follow Busy Mommy Media on Twitter
2. Tweet this giveaway by clicking on the box in the upper right hand side of this post.
3. Get updates from Busy Mommy Media by signing up for the  Busy Mommy Media Newsletter, subscribing to the Busy Mommy Media RSS feed, or  Signing up to receive updates from Busy Mommy Media.
4. Start or respond to a conversation in our Blog Frog Community.
5. Blog about this giveaway and link back to the giveaway post.
6. Stumble this post.

Related posts:

1. Giveaway: Pizza Mania Early Math Game
2. Mitten Matching Math
3. Easy Dessert Recipe – White Texas Sheet Cake
4. Preschool Math Activity – Egg Carton Counting
5. Dice Rolling Math Game for Kids