THE DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD: CALCULATOR ACCESS, STUDENT PERFORMANCE, AND THE ILLUSION OF COMPETENCE IN NIGERIAN SECONDARY MATHEMATICS

Abstract

While calculator access is widely promoted as a tool for enhancing mathematics achievement, empirical evidence suggests a paradoxical relationship: unrestricted calculator availability often correlates with diminished performance on calculations executed without technological support. This study employed a quasi-experimental design to examine this paradox by comparing 200 secondary school students' performance on mathematically equivalent assessments administered with and without calculator access. Students completed the Mathematical Achievement Test (MAT) Part A (no calculator access) and Part B (optional calculator access) across five content areas: order of operations, integers, fractions, decimals, and percentages. Results revealed a significant performance reversal: students achieved higher mean scores on Part A (M = 14.55, SD = 4.03) without calculator access compared to Part B (M = 10.35, SD = 3.64) with calculator access—a difference of 4.2 points (t = 2.04, large effect size d = 1.04). This counterintuitive finding was most pronounced in fraction (66.67% calculator usage, t = 4.15, large effect) and decimal (81% calculator usage, t = 3.75, large effect) content areas, suggesting that students preferentially resort to calculators for topics requiring conceptual understanding of procedures rather than rote computation. Analysis of calculator usage patterns (48% for order of operations, 45.31% for integers) reveals an abuse pattern wherein students employ calculators indiscriminately rather than strategically. The study demonstrates that calculator availability creates a dependency that compromises student achievement on fundamental computational tasks requiring mental or written methods. These findings challenge the assumption that calculator access improves learning outcomes and suggest that threshold-based, pedagogically-structured calculator integration—rather than unrestricted availability—is necessary for mathematics achievement in resource-constrained educational settings.