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Although the initital purpose of this study was to assess my students'
existing ability to use a calculator and decide whether such use is
appropriate, I soon decided to introduce an instructional intervention
as well. Specifically, two days after each opener, I gave a brief mini-
lesson (about five minutes) about that opener, in hopes that students
might, as a result, improve their performance on the post-quiz.
I began each mini-lesson with a brief description of the problem and
what exactly it was asking, followed by a walkthrough of a non-useful
way of doing it (shaped by errors I noticed while scoring the completed
openers). I then explained in detail why that method could lead to mistakes,
or slow one down, or just not work in the first place, and demonstrated a
more useful way of solving the problem. When demonstrating anything involving
a graphing calculator, be it a useful or non-useful method, I utilized an
overhead projector so that the students could see what I was doing.