Why Teach with Spreadsheets?

• 1. Editing Cells and Sheets

• 2. Writing Formulas
• 3. Creating Graphs
• 4. Managing Tables
• 5. Modeling
• Formatting cells
• Displaying numbers (format)
• Writing simple formulas
• Using cells reference
• Using basic functions
• Using absolute reference
• Creating a bar graph
• Choosing a suitable graph
• Sorting out data
• Spreadsheet applications have an advantage
over other teaching technology tools in that
most students already have spreadsheet
programs on their computers.
• Spreadsheets are also an attractive technology
because students are likely to use
spreadsheets in future projects, careers and in
personal life.
 The use of Spreadsheet
• spreadsheets can be set up to numerically
solve complex systems of equations, find
trends in data, or discover the optimum
solution to a problem.
• However, any class that presents data in a
table may use spreadsheet exercises to
enhance quantitative literacy
Increase the breadth of course content
• Because spreadsheets can be used to quickly
solve complicated mathematical models,
several authors have suggested that more
sophisticated topics become in reach for
lower-level courses.
 Example
• models described by systems of equations
with no standard algebraic solution can be
explored though numerical examples when
the spreadsheet program is used to solve the
system numerically.
• In individual disciplines, spreadsheets have
been used to teach chemistry without
symbolic mathematics
 Improve critical thinking skills
• Building spreadsheets requires abstract
reasoning by the learner
• Spreadsheets are rule-using tools that require
that users become rule-makers
• Spreadsheets promote more open-ended
investigations, problem-oriented activities,
and active learning by students
Beare (1993) notes that spreadsheets:
• facilitate a variety of learning styles which can be
characterized by the terms: open-ended, problem-
oriented, constructivist, investigative, discovery
oriented, active and student-centered. In addition they
offer the following additional benefits: they are
interactive; they give immediate feedback to changing
data or formulae; they enable data, formulae and
graphical output to be available on the screen at once;
they give students a large measure of control and
ownership over their learning; and they can solve
complex problems and handle large amounts of data
without any need for programming.
 Improve quantitative literacy
• Any course that uses tables of data, equations,
graphs, or makes arguments based on
quantitative information provides an
opportunity for students to enhance fluency in
quantitative methods.
 Dirty students' hands
• Constructing and using spreadsheet models
forces students to "get their hands dirty." That
is, when students directly interact with a
model or data, they maybe able to understand
it better than they would by taking in a lecture
or reading a text. In this way, the benefits are
similar to teaching with simulations.
 Why Teach with Simulations?
• Instructional simulations have the potential to
engage students in "deep learning" that
empowers understanding as opposed to
"surface learning" that requires only
memorization.
Deep learning means that students
• the importance of model building
• the relationships among variables
• data issues, probability and sampling theory.
Simulations help students understand
probability and sampling theory
• how to use a model to predict outcomes
 Learn to reflect on and extend
knowledge by
• actively engaging in student-student or
instructor-student conversations needed to
conduct a simulation.
• transferring knowledge to new problems and
situations.
• understanding and refining their own
thought processes
• seeing social processes and social
interactions in action
 How to Teach with Simulations
• Instructor Preparation is Crucial
• The good news is that instructional
simulations can be very effective in
stimulating student understanding.
• The bad news is that many simulations require
intensive pre-simulation lesson preparation.
Lesson preparation varies with the type and
complexity of the simulation.
The instructional simulation work best
when:
• Instructors have a clear written statement in the course
syllabus about the goals of the simulation and an explanation
of how the simulation is tied to the course goals.
• Instructors read ALL the supporting material for the
simulation.
• Instructors do a trial run of the simulation before assigning
the simulation to students, when possible.
• Instructors make sure that university laboratory facilities
support the simulation when laboratory facilities are needed.
• Instructors integrate instructional simulations with other
pedagogies such as Cooperative Learning or Interactive
Lecture Demonstration
 Active Student Participation is Crucial
• Students should predict and explain the outcome
they expect the simulation to generate.
• Every effort should be made to make it difficult
for students to become passive during the
simulation. Students must submit timely input
and not rely on classmates to play for them.
• Instructors should anticipate ways the simulation
can go wrong and include this in their pre-
simulation discussion with the class.
 Post-Simulation Discussion is Crucial
• Post-simulation discussion with students leads to
deeper learning. The instructor should:
• Provide sufficient time for students to reflect on
and discuss what they learned from the
simulation.
• Integrate the course goals into the post-
simulation discussion.
• Ask students explicitly asked how the simulation
helped them understand the course goals or how
it may have made the goals more confusing.
 How to Teach with spreadsheets
• Find an appropriate topic
• Choose the type of assignment and setting
• Determine the time to devoted to learning
spreadsheet and mathematics skills
• Select appropriate spreadsheet tools
• Write or present the assignment carefully
• Assess results
 What are Visualizations?
• Visualizations can present massive amounts of
information to help scientists identify relevant
patterns and processes in nature.
• Data visualization techniques range from
simple pie charts or x-y scatter plots to
colorful contour plots and 3-D images that can
be manipulated and viewed from a variety of
orientations and with a variety of color
schemes.
 visualizations for multidimensional
data sets allow the users to :
• Select a particular subset of a data set in
space and/or time;
• Create 3-D and contour plots;
• View data from different orientations;
• Create and view animations of data at
different rates;
• Customize the color enhancement of images
to highlight features of particular interest;
 Why Teach with Visualizations
• Visualizations are intimately connected with
all phases of model development and analysis.
At the beginning level, visualizations can be
used to help develop conceptual models of
how things work.
 How to Teach with Visualizations
• If a particular visualization package is poorly
documented and awkward to use, find a
better one.
• Balance between simplicity and versatility
appropriate for your purposes should be
maintained.
• High cost does not always correlate to the
optimum package for your students.