Spreadsheet Integration
Why Use Spreadsheets in the Classroom
Lessons that Introduce Spreadsheets to
Students
Other Lesson Plans that Use Spreadsheets
Data Sources to Use with Spreadsheet Projects
Spreadsheet Ideas for Teacher Productivity
Why Use Spreadsheets in the Classroom
Kathy Adkins, author of "To Excel in the Classroom is
Elementary", has a phenomenal website about using spreadsheets in the
classroom with some of the greatest resources ever gathered. On that
website, she lists 10 reasons why one should use spreadsheets in the
classroom
http://www.forsyth.k12.ga.us/kadkins/reasons.htm
Lessons that Introduce
Spreadsheets to Students
"To Excel in the Classroom is Elementary"--a fabulous collection of
lesson plans and resources for integrating Excel into the K - 5th
grade curriculum, starting at the beginning and working up to more
complex skills. The list called "ABC's of Things to Graph" is
phenomenal. The ideas for things to graph (A is for apples, C is for
Civil War,...) are varied and valuable, but click on the individual
pink letters out to the side and there's all kinds of information on
how to actually do it in the classroom.
http://www.forsyth.k12.ga.us/kadkins/spreadsheet.htm
Pretend you won a shopping spree at your favorite toy store...this
online spreadsheet activity uses a pre-made spreadsheet that's on the
web. You could have your students do this activity first, then build
their own spreadsheet to do the same or similar thing.
http://www.ncwiseowl.org/kscope/techknowpark/FreeFall/ShoppingSpree.html
Fast Food Fun introduces basic data entry and chart making skills in an
almost-webquest type format
http://www.wmburgweb.com/Resources/Lesson/index.htm
Class Party! Grocery Shopping Lesson Plan
http://lessonplans.btskinner.com/ssgrocer.html
Other Lesson Plans and Resources
Is your class left-handed or right-handed? A data collection and
analysis exercise.
http://math.rice.edu/~lanius/Algebra/rightleft.html
Lemonade stand (for high school)
http://www.teachers.net/lessons/posts/1542.html
A list of lesson plans and ideas from Manassas, Virginia schools--last
updated in 2000 so some links are bad, but there's still good stuff here
http://www.manassas.k12.va.us/round/classweb/volz/excelweb/sslplan.htm
Using "if/then" statements to create self-checking worksheets. You
could create the first one but then let your students have at it! "To
teach is to learn twice"
http://www.essdack.org/tips/selfcheck.html
This spider webquest for 5th-7th graders uses spreadsheets as one of
its technology tools
http://www.ncwiseowl.org/webquest/spider/default.htm
The North Carolina Teachers' Network has created a nice database of
instructional resources; in the "search" box, type in "spreadsheets"; most of these lesson plans
focus on the curriculum first and the spreadsheet skills are secondary
http://www.learnnc.org/lessons/
Many ideas, modules, lesson plans, and tutorials all geared for
teachers and their students
http://www.internet4classrooms.com/on-line_excel.htm
From NCTM, an online spreadsheet to demonstrate collecting and
examining weather data
http://standards.nctm.org/document/eexamples/chap5/5.5/
Crazy Questions and Incriminating Spreadsheet Data just puts the fun
into learning how to create and interpret graphs
http://www.ncwiseowl.org/kscope/techknowpark/FreeFall/Graphing.html
The National Center for Education Statistics has an online
graph/chart-making service; the interactive website gives insights into
what kind of graph represents what and also some fun games on
probability and other statistical concepts
http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/
Create a decision making grid where you lay out the criteria and point
value of the aspects of a decision you're making (which college to go
to, which backpack to buy,...)
http://www.essdack.org/tips/decision.html
Posters and activity sheets to help teach students about spreadsheets
http://www.ncwiseowl.org/kscope/techknowpark/FreeFall/Resources.html
Data
Sources to Use with Spreadsheets
50 states
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/usa/states/
http://www.50states.com
http://www.shgresources.com/ (SHG
= State History Guide)
From the same Kathy Adkins website that has the phenomenal reasons to
use spreadsheets and continuum of lesson plans, here are her data
resources
http://www.forsyth.k12.ga.us/kadkins/library.htm
Spreadsheet Ideas for Teacher
Productivity
This tutorial show a teacher the basics of Excel (assumes very little
prior
background) while making a gradebook (Bob Hope and Eddie Murphy will be
in your class!); so you'll learn many of the skills listed to the left
while learning how to make something useful in Excel
http://storywind.net/education/mccarthy/lessons/exceltutorial.html