Learning With Spreadsheets

I did not know much about spreadsheets until now and I believe it is because of two reasons: I have not really played with them much and no one has actually taught me how to use it. I recently had an assignment in class that had to do with using spreadsheets and it taught me a lot that I did not know. Spreadsheets are a great way to organize information and once you get the hang of how to use them, it becomes much easier then it looks.

Now that I have had better practice with spreadsheets I feel confident in knowing I can use them in the classroom for many different reasons. First of all it is a great way to keep up with your students grades. The students can also use them to organize data and graphs. Spreadsheets can be incorporated into any subject, unit, or project. I think it is important to know how much spreadsheets can help teachers and students in the classroom. This is an example of a spreadsheet and graph assignment that I recently completed for class.

In the classroom it is important to teach students method of organizing and bringing data together. To keep students interested we should use the inquiry based method as much as possible. Inquiry-based learning is based on student’s involvement with the teacher and other students in the classroom. This involvement leads to understanding of the content and builds the skills of students. These are three guiding questions for students when asking them to create a spreadsheet like this one:

1. Is your data organized in the least about of groups possible?

2. Do you know how to put an equation into the spreadsheet so that it can calculate for you?

3. Can you see the result of your spreadsheet?