TI-Nspire CX handheld enables math and science learning

DALLAS, USA: Whether they're in the classroom or library, studying at home or doing hands-on data collection in the field, students heading back to school with the new color-display TI-Nspire CX handheld can easily bring math and science concepts to life.

Many schools provide calculators for use in the math classroom for a few hours a week. Yet learning real-world math and science concepts can take place anytime, anywhere when students have access to their own interactive learning tools such as the new color-display TI-Nspire CX handheld. Using the TI-Nspire Student Software, which is included with a retail purchase of the TI-Nspire CX handheld, students can work either on the handheld or work on exercises on their PC or Mac computer at home.

Research indicates that students tend do better in math when they use a graphing calculator both in class and at home. Research(2) also indicates that the more students use graphing calculators during instruction, the higher they tend to score on tests.

The TI-Nspire CX handheld is permitted for use SAT, AP, PSAT/NSMQT, IB, and ACT college entrance exams, as well as many state standardized tests. Students can even download sample SAT and ACT test questions for practice.

Students can also use their TI-Nspire handheld in science class whether in the classroom, the lab or the field. Using TI-Nspire handheld or Student Software version 3.0, students can collect rich, real-world data using the TI-Nspire Lab Cradle and more than 60 data collection sensors. The TI-Nspire Lab Cradle and data collection sensors are science classroom equipment purchased by schools.

Owning a TI-Nspire CX handheld is an investment that students can use from middle school through high school and college for both math and science courses.

"It's really helpful for me to have a TI-Nspire calculator at home so I can move at my own pace," said Tina Liu, who recently graduated from Fitch High School in Austintown, Ohio. "For example, the teacher will do something in class and perhaps move slower or faster than I go. When I go home with my own calculator and the document we used in class, I can look over stuff I didn't understand before or move faster on parts I understood but other students didn't."

Jon Michael Valantine, who also recently attended Fitch High School, agrees. "It's really nice to be able to take the calculator home. You can get documents off of the class web site or you can share documents with other students. It's great just being able to have the same technology at home while you do your homework or study for the test."

Both Liu and Valantine studied math with TI-Nspire technology throughout their high school careers, and both participated in the first classroom pilot of the TI-Nspire CX handheld.

The new TI-Nspire CX handheld, with its 16-bit, 320 x 240 pixel, high-resolution color display, helps students better visualize formulas and scientific equations; interpret data, charts and graphics; and view full-color images and animations to highlight concepts and deepen understanding. The TI-Nspire CX handheld's ability to show multiple representations of a math activity using color enhances students' connections to key ideas as they view and analyze their work side-by-side as an equation, table, graph or text problem.