1. Can you identify two types of data your students could collect as part of a lesson?
Spreadsheets are used primarily to manipulate numbers. Students could gather data about gas prices over the past few years, using currency as a form of information. Students could then manipulate these numbers to show trends throughout the years of how gas prices have climbed and fell. Another form of numerical data that could be gathered is temperatures. Students could study the trends of temperatures throughout the month or the year. They could then use the spreadsheet to calculate data about the means and averages of the temperature. However, you can also enter text into a spreadsheet. When using a spreadsheet to organize text, it becomes more like a database. The spreadsheet will allow the user to organize and sort this data, such as names and addresses of family members.
2. How could your students manipulate the data to discover relationships or trends?
Spreadsheets are oftentimes used to calculate or manipulate the data which is stored within them. Students could enter in a predefined formula to help with calculating the data. After doing this, students could change the data stored within the cells to be calculated. By doing this, the formula cell would change, showing how the changed data will affect the outcome. An example of a way to do this would be to have the student to create a spreadsheet of a bank account. The predetermined formula would be the balance of the bank account. Students could then enter in debits and credits into the spreadsheet. As they add in this data, students would be able to see how the balance of the bank account changes.
3. Can you identify three graphs or charts your students could make that would help them develop a better understanding of the content?
There are many different options of graphs or charts that could be made when using a spreadsheet. Three of these are pie graphs, line graphs, and bar graphs. Sometimes a student may not completely understand the data that he or she has entered within the spreadsheet. Creating a chart from this data could give the student a visual perspective of the data, which may help in the understanding of the content of data. An example for using a pie graph may be to show the number of people within a classroom. Students may gather information on how many girls vs boys, eye colors, birth months, etc are within the classroom. A pie chart would help to show the data to the students as pieces of a whole. A line graph could be used to show data from a study on how much it has rained throughout a given amount of months. Students would be able to see how the amount of rain has varied within the recorded months by seeing how the line of the graph moves up and down. A bar graph would be a great way to show the average temperature of a given amount of months. Student would be able to see how each month compared to the others as the highs and lows of the temperature is recorded.
4. Is it possible to create an interactive simulation or model with a spreadsheet?
Yes, a teacher can create an interactive simulation or model with a spreadsheet to use with the students in the classroom. Teachers can set up a spreadsheet and allow students to manipulate the data within to spreadsheet to see the changes. For example, students could do this with birthdays. Each student could enter his or her birthday into the spreadsheet. As the students change or add data, the graph would also change so depict the data being entered into the spreadsheet.
Lowther, D., & Morrison, G. (2010). Integrating Computer Technology into the Classroom. Pearson Education, Inc
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