Check Out the Casio Emulators!

If you have watched any of my recent videos, you will note that I am using Casio Emulators that are available for free on the ClassPad.net workspace. The newest Casio Graphing Calculator, the fx-CG100 ClassWiz just got added to the available emulators, bringing the total to four. This is exciting, since in a single classroom, students bring a variety of hand-helds, so having the ability to support multiple students with their different models is a huge advantage. I am going to briefly describe each of the emulators available, and then I made a short video modeling using each one in the ClassPad workspace. No matter which emulator works best for your situation, what you will see is that with the embedded in the ClassPad.net workspace, you have limitless ways to visualize and explore mathematics and support your students in deepening their mathematical understanding.

FX-991EX - Scientific Calculator with QR Code

This scientific calculator was the original scientific calculator that had QR capabilities. It’s still a great calculator at an insane price, and with the QR code, your students have the ability to access visualization of mathematics that is not available on other scientific calculators (the QR code links directly to the ClassPad.net workspace). This emulator is still available, but the an updated version, the fx-991CW ClassWiz scientific calculator, is also available, and would be the one to use because of it’s improvements on the original.  I do show both in the video.

fx-991CW ClassWiz - Scientific Calculator with QR Code

This scientific calculator is the upgraded version of the fx-991EX. It is more in line with other Casio graphing calculators, with the menu options on the home screen, a larger LCD display, and button arrangement. You will see in the video the differences between the EX and CW models. What is still consistent is the ability to use the QR code to access graphs and visualizations. 

fx-9750GIII Graphing Calculator

This graphing calculator is powerful and incredibly affordable. It is a black-and-white graphing calculator, but has all the functionality and ease-of-use that Casio graphing calculators are known for, with that incredibly low price point. This calculator can get students through middle school right up into college, and is approved for all the standardized tests.

fx-CG100 ClassWiz - Color Graphing Calculator

This is the brand new handheld graphing calculator from Casio that they demoed at the most recent NCTM Math Conference in Chicago. It’s a color-grapher, really streamlined, and modeled after the ClassWiz scientific calculators so it helps with that transition between scientific and graphing. Instead of the function key layout that Casio’s other graphers’ have, this uses a tab-based design which makes navigation even easier than the function keys. 

Regardless of which emulator you use, which obviously would depend on which handheld your students might have and need support with, all of them are available and quickly interchangeable. And - the added benefit, since they are on the ClassPad.net workspace, you always then have that ability to explore the graphs and visualizations and expand on the discovery and connections to support student understanding.

Here’s a video, where I graph the same two functions using each emulator, to give you a quick comparison of each and point out some of the similarities and differences. It’s a bit long because I really wanted to show you all four and do a bit of compare/contrast along the way.