Spreadsheets

Spreadsheet programs, like Microsoft Excell or Google's Spreadsheet Document , can provide powerful and engaging curricular applications. Teachers like Kathryn Pischl, a fourth grade teacher from Kuna, Idaho, are using spreadsheet models to aid students in improving their problem-solving skills. A teacher-created Excell spreadsheet was used to integrate a lesson involving data on volcanoes (gathered from bookmarked websites) with math problems. The students listed volcano names, heights, state located, and dates of eruption. Working in small groups, they entered this data into the spreadsheet and used it to create a graph. The graph then was used to compare the heights of the volcanoes, develop questions and story problems, and then to judge the conclusions against expert information. One little spreadsheet, with a single inclusive graph, allowed Ms Pishl's fourth graders to analyze the volcano data, synthesize new problems from it, and then evaluate their conclusions. She reports that the activity aroused a great deal of excitement and motivation for the lesson - it was a resounding success, a result that was reinforced by her students' above-average performance on the assessment for this content.

I believe that this method would apply to any grade level. For secondary students, I would use a similar question to explore, but in greater detail and complexity. We could further analyze the physical characteristics of volcanoes, compare and contrast them by type, or possibly develop models to predict eruptions. And, of course, I will happily use the model to explore similar questions in Biology, such as collecting information on Food Webs. We could gather data on types of food webs, characterize individual organisms as to their role/niche within the web, generate graphs so as to compare relationships, develop questions and problems to further explore the lesson, then evaluate our conclusions with real-world data. The exercise could then culminate in a group presentation and/or a written report summarizing the project. This model can thus be used to build and improve the learner's knowledge of (and skills with ) data entry, and (as with Ms Pishl's students) can then be used to analyze the data, apply it to create new applications (like story problems) and then to judge the utility of the conclusions drawn from the lesson. Additionally, computer and software-savvy students could improve their skills with the software itself, by generating charts, graphs, and pivot tables. The possibilities are virtually limitless!