Suggestions for Spreadsheet Activities

Brown, J.M. (2002). Spreadsheet Activities for Microsoft Excel. Westminster, CA: Teacher Created Materials, Inc.

Science

1. Students can store information about planets, such as circumference, distance from the sun, density, etc.
2. Students can graph the information and also perform calculations within the spreadsheet.
3. Students could track observations of plant growth. Students can record plant height on a daily basis and chart this information.
4. Primary students can track and chart the number of teeth they lose per month as a class.
5. Students can track the boiling point and freezing point of various substances.
6. A spreadsheet allows students to examine the predator-prey relationship, and how animal populations can be altered if one part of the relationship is out-of-balance.
7. Spreadsheets can help students compare physical properties of rocks and other substances by mathematically adjusting qualities based on one characteristic. For example, if students collected data for several rocks in a collection, they can compare based on the degree of characteristics if the observed rocks were all the same mass.
8. Students can use spreadsheets to convert from Fahrenheit to Celsius to Kelvin degrees.
9. Formulas that typically are solved either manually or with a calculator can be solved by using a spreadsheet. Students can set up spreadsheet columns to represent the variables in a formula, and then have the program compute the result.
10. Position, velocity, and acceleration are related. Students can record information in a spreadsheet to be able to see and understand this relationship.

Social Science

1. Teachers can create simulations of historical periods. Students use a spreadsheet to record and compute pertinent information. Students make decisions based on their understanding, and then see how their decisions influence other events.
2. Students can keep track of fictitious stock purchases, and track prices. Students can also be asked to use a spreadsheet in understanding the stock market crash.
3. Population growth in a city, state, or country call be examined using a spreadsheet. Students can examine trends and make predictions based on their analyses.
4. A spreadsheet is a useful tool to help students understand population density.
5. The Mayan number system was a base 20 system. Students can learn about the culture by using a spreadsheet to compare Mayan numbers with our Hindu-Arabic system.
6. When various presidential cabinets are explored, spreadsheets can be developed to compare expenditures in the national budget. This allows students to control for inflation.
7. Principles of the Free Market Economy (supply and demand} can be explored using a spreadsheet.

Language Arts

1. Keep a chart of the number of pages read by student on a weekly or monthly basis.
2. Have students explore the number of active and passive verbs in sentences of different document types (fiction, non-fiction, newspapers).
3. Students can develop charts with the assistance of spreadsheet programs that can be incorporated into material that they write and/or present verbally.

Mathematics

1. Spreadsheets can help students understand the relationship between fractions, decimals, and percents.
2. Primary students can use a teacher-generated spreadsheet that helps them self-assess whether they have correctly made change for a purchase.
3. Percent of increase and decrease can be examined using a spreadsheet.
4. Any word problem that would be typically solved using trial and error could be solved using formulas within a spreadsheet.
5. Geometry concepts such as perimeter, area, and volume can be explored using spreadsheets.
6. Real-Iife mathematical concepts such as loans can be studied through spreadsheets.