From: Cathy McDonald <cbmcdonald@fc.fcps.k12.va.us>
To: Teacher2Teacher Service
Date: Feb 08, 1999 at 10:45:24
Subject: Front End Estimation

A member of our PTA has challenged the concept of "Front End Estimation" as 
a worthless skill! He contends we are wasting our time and that of our 
students.  He contends that the today's technological advances require 
accurate answers--- to the decimal point; that the only form of estimation 
we should be teaching is "rounding"; that more time should be spent in 
teaching the actual calculation skills.

Any suggestions of "real-life" situations where front-end estimation is 
used would be appreciated greatly.  

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