Self-study
Conclusion Education critics' contention that the use of calculators in mathematics classes will undermine students' knowledge of the rationale underlying calculational procedures is clearly false. █████ ███ ████████████████████ ██████████ ███ ████████ █████████ ███ ████ ███████████ ████ █████ █████████████ ███ ████████ ████████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ ████████ █████ █████ ████████ ████████ ██ ████████ ███████████ ███ █████ █████████████████
Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
The author concludes that the use of calculators in math classes will not undermine students’ knowledge of the rationale underlying calculational procedures. This is based on the assertion that every new information technology has received the same kind of criticism. One example is certain criticism of written language. Some Greek philosophers thought written language would destroy people’s memory and ability to speak extemporaneously.
Identify and Describe Flaw
What do the complaints about other technologies have to do with whether calculators in math classes will undermine students knowledge of the rationale underlying calculations? Nothing. The author assumes that because similar complaints have been raised about other technologies, this somehow shows one particular complaint about calculators is wrong.
18.
The reasoning in the argument █████ ██ ████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ████████
a
presents only evidence █████ █████████ ██ ███ █████ ██████ ██ ███ █████████ ███ ███ ████ ███████████
The author fails to show that complaints about other technologies is relevant to the impact of calculators in math classes.
b
draws a conclusion █████ ██ ██ █████████ ██████ ██ █████████
There’s nothing ambiguous about the concept “knowledge” in this argument. It takes on its ordinary dictionary definition.
c
takes for granted ████ ███ ██████████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████████████████ ████████████ ██████ ████████ ███ █████████████
The author never expresses an opinion on whether using calculators in the classroom is good or bad; the conclusion is simply that calculators won’t have a particular effect. So the author doesn’t engage in weighing advantages/disadvantages of calculators or any other technology.
d
takes a condition ████ ████████ ██ █████ ███ ██████████ ██ ██ █ █████████ █████████ ███ ███ █████ ██ ████ ██████████
There’s no confusing of any sufficient or necessary conditions. The argument is not based on conditional logic and doesn’t assert that anything is sufficient or necessary.
e
concludes that a ██████████ ██ █████ ██████ ███████ ██ ███████████ █████ ███████ ████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ██████████
The author doesn’t bring up the education critics’ other beliefs. The author does cite to complaints about other technologies; but the author doesn’t say that the education critics are wrong because of the education critics’ own other beliefs.