(Expanded version with pictures of the spreadsheets coming soon...)
Spreadsheets are fantastic, though often underutilized, tools for analyzing data in the classroom. From kindergarten on, students can use spreadsheets to track their progress on their "daily writes," analyze weather data that they collect, manage the school store, explore prime numbers, study plant growth, learn about the stock market, investigate trigonometric functions, and more.
Some Sample Projects Include:
Using a Rubric for Self-Assessment of "Daily Writes" in Grade 1:
- Create a spreadsheet table in the top half of a page
- Create a bar chart in the bottom half of the page
- Lock the cells that you don't want students to change
- Set the print area to print the spreadsheet table and the chart
- Students will enter their rubric scores once per week and print the table and graph
- Students will discuss what the graph reveals with a partner, the teacher, and their parents
Note: The teacher would develop the spreadsheet; the students would use it.
Analyzing Survey Data:
- Conduct a survey of school members, community members, or another appropriate group. The topic of the survey could vary widely depending on curriculum.
- Enter the data collected into a spreadsheet
- Summarize the data
- Create graphs and use them to discuss what the survey reveals
Analyzing the Temperature Above, At, and Below the Snow's Surface:
- Over the course of at least a week, and preferably a month or so, collect temperature data:
- 1 foot above the snow's surface,
- at the snow's surface, and
- at ground level below the snow
- Enter this data into a spreadsheet
- Create line graphs
- Discuss what the graphs reveal
Managing a School Store:
- Create spreadsheets to monitor:
- Daily sales,
- Inventory, and
- Profit
- Use these spreadsheets to manage the store
- Generate graphs to explore the data
Exploring Prime Numbers:
- Use the Prime Number Spreadsheet to explore which numbers are primes
- Create a bar chart that displays a bar for each prime number
- Attempt to discover a pattern in the distribution of prime numbers
Note: Depending on age level, either the teacher or the students would develop the spreadsheet.
Exploring Plant Growth:
- Plant a bunch of fast-growing seeds and grow them under different experimental conditions (variables might include light level, cc's of water per week, soil type, etc.)
- Create hypotheses about how the different conditions will affect plant growth
- Track plant growth by measuring plant height each day
- Create a spreadsheet that can be used to graph daily plant growth (in mm/day)
- Discuss what the graphs reveal
Exploring Trigonometric Functions:
- Use the Function Plotter Spreadsheet to investigate how graphs vary depending on which variable is changed
- Develop and test hypotheses about the impact of each variable on a given function
- Discuss these hypotheses
Note: The teacher would develop the spreadsheet; the students would use it.
Exploring the Stock Market:
- Teams of students research companies on the Internet
- The teams use that research to decide which stocks to "invest" in
- The teams "purchase" and "sell" stocks based on their research and current market prices
- Students track their purchases, sales, and net profit or loss with a spreadsheet
- After a period of time, students compare their profits/losses and discuss hypotheses as to why some stocks did better than others and which buying and selling strategies were most successful
Note: An option is to join the Burlington Free Press Stock Market Game
To the SBSD Teacher Resource Page
Problems or Concerns?
Email Steve Webster
Last updated 10/8/98