Using Spreadsheets in Mathematics (Part I)
I have used spreadsheets a lot in my work, both as an educator and in non-educational roles. While most of my use within education has revolved around administrative details, many opportunities for using spreadsheets “within the mathematics curriculum” exist.
CHARTS AND GRAPHS Spreadsheets take the hard work out of making charts and graphs. Teachers can design different charts and graphs of data very quickly for display in the classroom via an interactive whiteboard or put on a webpage. They can be use for on the fly surveys in class. This way, instead of hearing about Mrs. Moneypenny’s class and how many green-eye students there are, a teacher can survey the students quickly (with or without a student response device) and create the same chart for their class, thus personalizing the information for the students. Students can create their own charts (Roblyer & Doering, 2013) without needing to be Michelangelo in order for them to look good. They save paper resources and they can be shared with many others.
STATISTICS Like charts and graphs, basic statistics such as mean, median and mode are taught using information about some made up teacher and his/her imaginary class. Again, with spreadsheets, these lessons can be designed with a personal touch. Furthermore, most of the time, students find “nice” answers (whole numbers) from a small sample. While you wouldn’t want to first introduce statistics to students with a large sample and “not-so-nice” answers, as the students progress, they need to be challenged. Spreadsheets allow for students to find real and meaningful statistical representations. They also allow for demonstrations of how adding, removing or changing data affect the results. Exercises where students make guess as to how the answers will change can be done rapidly enough to prevent boredom while reinforcing the concepts.
FORMULAS Not to sound like a broken record (or old for saying the phrase “broken record”) but, formulas and equations reap many of the same benefits of spreadsheets as charts, graphs and statistics. When using spreadsheets with formulas, students can see how changing one or multiple pieces of data affect the final result. What happens to the perimeter if all sides of a rectangle are doubled? What about the area? Again, guessing first and checking is an excellent learning concept reinforcer. At more advance stages, equations (linear and non-linear) can be derived from data. Spreadsheets can help explore the concept of the line of best fit. Again, manipulation of the data and the resulting effects are more readily seen.
COMPARISONS Ordering numbers is another one of those mathematical concepts that seem too easy to spend time on and yet, many students have difficulty ordering numbers when we stretch beyond the realm of whole numbers. Again, guessing and checking is a useful tool. Students can be given a list of numbers in one column. The students place them in order by listing the numbers from 1 to “n” in a second column. By sorting the two columns on the original list, the students can see how well they did. Also, as previously stated, personalizing the list can be achieve by having students pick numbers. By mixing in different types of numbers (decimals and fractions) students can better comprehend the relationship between the forms.
This is just a few ways that spreadsheets can be utilized in the mathematics classroom. Comparing numbers of different forms (decimals, fractions, percent) can be made easier with manipulation. There’s that word again: manipulation. The ability to manipulate the data and instantly see the results is probably the greatest impact that can be achieved by using spreadsheets in the mathematics classroom (Roblyer & Doering, 2013).
Reference
Roblyer, M. D., & Doering, A. H. (2013). Integrating educational technology into teaching (6th ed., New International ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson.
CHARTS AND GRAPHS Spreadsheets take the hard work out of making charts and graphs. Teachers can design different charts and graphs of data very quickly for display in the classroom via an interactive whiteboard or put on a webpage. They can be use for on the fly surveys in class. This way, instead of hearing about Mrs. Moneypenny’s class and how many green-eye students there are, a teacher can survey the students quickly (with or without a student response device) and create the same chart for their class, thus personalizing the information for the students. Students can create their own charts (Roblyer & Doering, 2013) without needing to be Michelangelo in order for them to look good. They save paper resources and they can be shared with many others.
STATISTICS Like charts and graphs, basic statistics such as mean, median and mode are taught using information about some made up teacher and his/her imaginary class. Again, with spreadsheets, these lessons can be designed with a personal touch. Furthermore, most of the time, students find “nice” answers (whole numbers) from a small sample. While you wouldn’t want to first introduce statistics to students with a large sample and “not-so-nice” answers, as the students progress, they need to be challenged. Spreadsheets allow for students to find real and meaningful statistical representations. They also allow for demonstrations of how adding, removing or changing data affect the results. Exercises where students make guess as to how the answers will change can be done rapidly enough to prevent boredom while reinforcing the concepts.
FORMULAS Not to sound like a broken record (or old for saying the phrase “broken record”) but, formulas and equations reap many of the same benefits of spreadsheets as charts, graphs and statistics. When using spreadsheets with formulas, students can see how changing one or multiple pieces of data affect the final result. What happens to the perimeter if all sides of a rectangle are doubled? What about the area? Again, guessing first and checking is an excellent learning concept reinforcer. At more advance stages, equations (linear and non-linear) can be derived from data. Spreadsheets can help explore the concept of the line of best fit. Again, manipulation of the data and the resulting effects are more readily seen.
COMPARISONS Ordering numbers is another one of those mathematical concepts that seem too easy to spend time on and yet, many students have difficulty ordering numbers when we stretch beyond the realm of whole numbers. Again, guessing and checking is a useful tool. Students can be given a list of numbers in one column. The students place them in order by listing the numbers from 1 to “n” in a second column. By sorting the two columns on the original list, the students can see how well they did. Also, as previously stated, personalizing the list can be achieve by having students pick numbers. By mixing in different types of numbers (decimals and fractions) students can better comprehend the relationship between the forms.
This is just a few ways that spreadsheets can be utilized in the mathematics classroom. Comparing numbers of different forms (decimals, fractions, percent) can be made easier with manipulation. There’s that word again: manipulation. The ability to manipulate the data and instantly see the results is probably the greatest impact that can be achieved by using spreadsheets in the mathematics classroom (Roblyer & Doering, 2013).
Reference
Roblyer, M. D., & Doering, A. H. (2013). Integrating educational technology into teaching (6th ed., New International ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson.
Using spreadsheets in mathematics (part ii)
For this project, the students will create various graphs based upon the results of the Which ‘Big Bang Theory’ Character Are You Quiz. Before taking the quiz each student, will select which character they think they are. Then, after taking the quiz, each student will enter their prediction and their actual results into the collection form. The resulting spreadsheet data will be used to create various charts (Pie, Bar, Double Bar) to display different data. These include, but are not exclusive, the following.
Lesson Objectives
- Pie Graphs representing percent who chose each character and percent who receive each character.
- Bar Graph showing the number of correct guess for each character.
- Double Bar Graph showing predictions versus outcomes.
Lesson Objectives
- The student will be able to construct pie graphs for data presented in a spreadsheet.
- The student will be able to construct bar graphs for data presented in a spreadsheet.
- The student will be able to construct double bar graphs for data presented in a spreadsheet.
- Timestamp
- Your Name
- Which Big Bang Theory character do you think you are?
- Which Big Bang Theory character are you?