FOUND: Texas Instruments 83 (or 83+ or 84) graphing calculators

[Todd's keyboard]

Lately I've been stopping in at thrift stores looking for cheap TI graphing calculators.

The school where I work could use about three more to lend out to the adult students who are either finishing high school or upgrading past math courses to be admitted to a college or university program.

I can find lots online in the $50-60 range. This will be coming out of my own pocket, and I'd rather find some in the $20-30 range.

thanks, Todd's [2nd] keyboard

[RgrF]

We had two three floating around here, but it's been awhile since I've seen them. If my son can find then they're yours gratis - I'll let you know.

[Todd's keyboard]

:-)

"I have always depended on the kindness of strangers." Blanche DuBois

[mattkime]

I think he's just feeding his https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drugwars addiction!

[Buzz]

Since they're still in use at most high schools these days, $20 - $30 is really a donation. What I've seen around here, is that most are passed down, and around among siblings, family friends, club/sports teammates, etc., on a very local level. We (or more accurately, Baby Buzz) at one time had three slightly different models accrued during his HS career. Prior to going off to college, he passed down his two least favorite models to other students, and kept, and used the one he liked best while at college. He's even used the keeper several times since joining the post-college "real world".

Why don't your adult students either just buy a $50 - $60 one that you note, and keep it for the long haul, or resell it after their classes are over, and likely recoup their investment? Why is your responsibility as an educator to provide a stable of lendable calculators?

I'm not sure how the "sharing circles" work in your school area, but from what I've seen around here, over 50% of the calculators are recycled among the student population each year; we don't see much local CL/ebay action, and the couple that do show up cheaply from time to time, I would bet are either stolen, or found ones that didn't have identification. Try to endear yourself into your local sharing circles, as that may prove fruitful.
Good luck.
==

[bazookaman]

When we went to Arizona my daughter realized she forgot hers so we found this app she could use instead.

[decay]

bazookaman wrote:
When we went to Arizona my daughter realized she forgot hers so we found this app she could use instead.

The only problem with Apps is that schools often don't allow a smart phone / iPod Touch to be used since it can access the internet and store other info.

[C(-)ris]

decay wrote:
[quote=bazookaman]
When we went to Arizona my daughter realized she forgot hers so we found this app she could use instead.

The only problem with Apps is that schools often don't allow a smart phone / iPod Touch to be used since it can access the internet and store other info.
Yep. Though, with Apple Classroom the teacher could lock the iPads into the app....assuming that the school owns all the iPads.

[Todd's keyboard]

Buzz wrote:
Why don't your adult students either just buy a $50 - $60 one that you note, and keep it for the long haul, or resell it after their classes are over, and likely recoup their investment? Why is your responsibility as an educator to provide a stable of lendable calculators?

Good luck.
==

Fair question. This particular campus is located within a downtown homeless/community centre (note the spelling) in Vancouver. The students run the gamut from being homeless, to being in recovery, to having decent jobs.

True, it’s not my responsibility. I seem to be the only one who works there with an interest. The other teachers never learned how to use graphing calculators themselves and don’t really care about them. When students come with questions about how to use a graphing calculator, the teachers’ responses are to send them to me. A substitute teacher explained to me that when she was teaching a regular math class she would skip over all of the sections that involved a graphing calculator. Apparently, not all of the students could afford them.

thanks again, Todd’s y= board

[C(-)ris]

Todd's keyboard wrote:
[quote=Buzz]
Why don't your adult students either just buy a $50 - $60 one that you note, and keep it for the long haul, or resell it after their classes are over, and likely recoup their investment? Why is your responsibility as an educator to provide a stable of lendable calculators?

Good luck.
==

Fair question. This particular campus is located within a downtown homeless/community centre (note the spelling) in Vancouver. The students run the gamut from being homeless, to being in recovery, to having decent jobs.

True, it’s not my responsibility. I seem to be the only one who works there with an interest. The other teachers never learned how to use graphing calculators themselves and don’t really care about them. When students come with questions about how to use a graphing calculator, the teachers’ responses are to send them to me. A substitute teacher explained to me that when she was teaching a regular math class she would skip over all of the sections that involved a graphing calculator. Apparently, not all of the students could afford them.

thanks again, Todd’s y= board
To be fair, a large percentage of the population will never use a graphing calculator after they graduate high school.