I found an Excel activity online appropriate for middle school grade math since that is the subject I would like to teach. In this activity for the students, they are using excel to create three different kinds of graphs: pie, line and bar. This particular project from the web, the students are using data on the Galveston Bay area. (link:http://riceinfo.rice.edu/armadillo/Galveston/Curriculum/tech2.html) I would most likely find data on the area I am teaching in so it will be more relevant to the students.
This activity is designed to help students practice using excel (knowing how is a prerequisite), as well as help them learn to interpret which type of graph is best to represent certain data, and then help then analyze the graphs and tie into the real world.
By looking at the different lesson plans online, it doesn't seem that excel is taught to children any younger then middle school. I think having children learn about the different charts in excel is a great way for them to work on the technology skills and their math skills. It makes the work educational and fun!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. Up until the other day in class, I had never seen the use of spreadsheets in an interactive way before. It is so neat how you can create worksheets in excel with the information that you are teaching or you can find one that have already been created online. This gives students the opportunity to get on the computer and solve problems and become more familiar with an important software program like excel. I think is a key factor though Heather and Nicole, that the students need to be a little older to understand spreadsheets so the target age level of these kinds of lessons would be geared more towards middle school.
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