An update to public school curriculum rolled out in August. It has incorporated the use of calculators into mathematics courses for junior high and senior high school students. However, the College Entrance Examination Center recently announced that students will not be allowed to use calculators for the 2022 entrance exams.


A new curriculum went into effect at the beginning of the 2019 academic year. Calculators were incorporated into mathematics courses for junior high and senior high school students. However, the College Entrance Examination Center recently announced that test takers will not be allowed to use calculators during the 2022 General Scholastic Ability Test, which will be based on the new curriculum. Several teachers started a petition calling for students to be allowed to bring calculators that meet required specifications to the test. Meanwhile, scholars who helped to create the mathematics curriculum under the 12-year compulsory education system said calculators are a learning tool and have been incorporated into the curriculum. Moreover, many exercises in textbooks require calculators. The ban on calculators for the test may violate the curriculum.

They're being used in classrooms, because it says so in the curriculum. Textbooks also have exercises where we are required to use them. If calculators can't be used during the test, the proportion of exam or quiz questions that we create requiring calculators won't be so high.

Other teachers believe the ban won't have much of an impact. The CEEC also explained that this decision was made by the Ministry of Education after consulting with involved parties and reaching a consensus. The CEEC will assess whether allowing the use of calculators will help to achieve the learning objectives of the curriculum and whether there are any hidden risks.

We estimate that 150,000 calculators will be entering the exam rooms (every year). All calculators need to meet certain standards and requirements, and it will require a large amount of administrative resources to ensure that these calculators haven't been modified. Will the practice of using calculators to answer questions become a standard situation? If it doesn't, then there may be an effect on performance and students may end up with lower scores.

The CEEC added that there may be an issue with fairness without proper planning. Results may also be affected by how proficient students are with calculators. Therefore, it must take a cautious approach as it doesn't have complete information. A decision on whether to allow calculators during the 2023 test is still pending.



新課綱上路，國、高中數學科教學現場，納入「計算機」教學。但大考中心已經拍板，適用新課綱的111學年大考，暫時不開放使用計算機。有高中老師發起連署，呼籲112年大考，要讓學生自備符合規範的計算機應考。還有12年國教的數學課綱參與學者認為，計算機是學習輔助工具，已經列入課綱，而且課本中不少練習，都要使用計算機，但是111年大考卻還無法上路，可能會違反課綱。

高中數學教師 李俊廷表示：「教學現場一定有在使用(計算機)，因為課綱有寫到，然後，課本裡面也會有，希望我們使用計算機的地方，考試如果不會用計算機，我們學校這邊出段考題，或是小考題，出計算機的比例，可能就會因此沒那麼高。」

也有高中老師認為影響不會太大。大考中心也解釋，這項決議，是教育部諮商各方意見後，所做成的共識。大考中心會評估的重點是開放使用計算機，除了達到課綱的素養學習要求之外，是否還有潛藏風險。

大考中心主任 張茂桂表示：「估計(一年)大概會有15萬台計算機，會進入這個考場，那麼所有的計算機，因此它都要符合一定的規範跟規定，那麼，要排除它可能被改造，就要投入相當多的行政資源，使用計算機來作答的情形，是不是一個均質的狀態，如果不是一個均質的狀態的時候，它對於考試成績，影響到考生，他成績的落點。」

大考中心說明，如果沒有妥善規畫，恐怕會有「公平性」疑慮，學生也可能因為操作熟練度不同而影響成績，因此在沒有蒐集更多資料佐證前，還是要審慎以對。至於112學年大考，能否納入計算機使用，各單位還會再評估、通盤考慮。