Entertaining equations: Ronan students get a kick out of wireless math tool

Word problems.

Those two words are enough to make any math student cringe.

And while they're not your standard “A train leaves Chicago at 8 p.m., traveling eastbound at 60 mph” type of word problems, Ronan High School students are tackling them with enthusiasm, thanks to wireless calculators that make class interactive, competitive and just plain fun.

The Texas Instruments Navigator System was purchased earlier this year, after math teacher Karla Moxley obtained a demo model from the company, and it was an instant success, she said.

"I used it for two weeks at the school, and the kids loved it," she said.

The system incorporates a TI calculator, which is plugged into a wireless network hub. Using special software, Moxley can send questions to the students' calculators, and their answers are transmitted back and projected onto a screen. By combining students into small teams, it adds an element of fun, and the results are instantaneous.

Moxley knew she had a hit on her hands, so she went to RHS principal Tom Stack and pitched it to him. Selling the system wasn't hard, but Moxley knew the district would have to justify the almost $11,000 price tag, which included the calculators, software, projector, wireless hub, and a cabinet to transport it in.

The cabinet and wireless capability means the entire system can easily be wheeled from room to room, allowing other math and science teachers to make use of it without having to hunt down an individual projector, laptop or other hardware.

"There's huge applications across other curriculums. The entire system - projector, cabinets and calculators - are all together, so a teacher doesn't have to go through the whole set-up process again every time someone wants to move it to another room," Moxley explained.

But the teacher benefits pale in comparison to the student benefits. During Moxley's morning math classes, students can be heard shouting out their enthusiasm with the tabulation of each answer, with bragging rights hanging on every question.

The software allows Moxley to ask multiple choice questions with three, four or five answers; ask "always, sometimes or never" questions; true/false, or open response questions.

Moxley can also navigate between probability and statistics, algebra, and geometry questions, that all rely on students' use of the calculator.

"They exit out of the Navigator system to use the calculator, and then go back into the application to send the answer," Moxley said.

The range of choices allows Moxley to see who is or isn't participating, but it doesn't embarrass individual students who might miss a question. While students can be identified by name, the teams are grouped into A, B and C, allowing the students to tell whether they got it right, but not singling out someone who might struggle in a particular area.

"Everyone has to participate, and a teacher knows when someone isn't. You can see that a calculator hasn't responded, and you can say, 'OK, we're still waiting for a couple of responses,' and they know they have to get it in," Moxley said. "Also, if they aren't sure, kids can guess without having every kid in the class know they didn't get it right."

The interaction is the primary benefit to students, she said, while they also like the instant results.

"The big thing I've found is that the kids really appreciate the instant results. It's not your normal lecture-and-question type of thing, so you can engage all your students, not just the ones who participate more than normal," Moxley noted.

Best of all, with the wireless technology, handheld devices, multiple software options, instant feedback, and big-screen format, it's a teaching medium that engages a generation of students raised on computers and Xbox games, Moxley noted.

"Truly, you can get it to where every child in the classroom can succeed at every level. That's huge for teenagers," she said.