Educational Application of Excel
Aside from learning about and using Excel, there are three objectives for this Excel activity that pertain to middle-level mathematics. After having taught 7th and 8th grade mathematics, I was always appalled at the number of students who struggled with basic math skills, particularly, simple multiplication and division. Having students learn about parts of the coordinate plane, also, presented its challenges; students would easily confuse the x and y-axes and struggled with the order of a coordinate point. Going even further than basic multiplication and division, students could not determine their own percent on a test because they did not know that they were supposed to divide the number correct by the total number of problems.
This Excel activity addresses all three objectives that I just described, but most importantly, provides a visual and dynamic representation of their results in the form of the graphs. As the teacher, I would have provided the problems and hidden the correct answers, and this activity would be used with the understanding that the students have already been introduced to basic Excel functions. After completing their first trial, the students can immediately tell upon creating their bar graphs how many problems were incorrect, and can practice reading the data on a bar graph. Having the students use the percentage table provides the practice they need to solve percentage problems.
Assessment would be based on their ability to follow directions, not so much as the number of correct answers, since this is a simple drill assignment. As long as the teacher knows how to manipulate Excel, it is simple to sum their answers, compare their numbers with their graphs, and to check their formulas by clicking on the cells and looking at the formula bar. It is a simple activity that addresses a myriad of objectives.
This Excel activity addresses all three objectives that I just described, but most importantly, provides a visual and dynamic representation of their results in the form of the graphs. As the teacher, I would have provided the problems and hidden the correct answers, and this activity would be used with the understanding that the students have already been introduced to basic Excel functions. After completing their first trial, the students can immediately tell upon creating their bar graphs how many problems were incorrect, and can practice reading the data on a bar graph. Having the students use the percentage table provides the practice they need to solve percentage problems.
Assessment would be based on their ability to follow directions, not so much as the number of correct answers, since this is a simple drill assignment. As long as the teacher knows how to manipulate Excel, it is simple to sum their answers, compare their numbers with their graphs, and to check their formulas by clicking on the cells and looking at the formula bar. It is a simple activity that addresses a myriad of objectives.
Application of Excel | |
File Size: | 40 kb |
File Type: | xls |