Lesson Two: Spreadsheets and Databases

I am a huge fan of spreadsheets. That may be weird to say, but I use them very frequently in my personal life. Creating budgets, organizing addresses, and making schedules are a few of the ways I utilize Microsoft Excel, fairly frequently in my personal life.

Since I am such a fan of spreadsheets and databases on my own, it makes sense to me that they would be a wonderful resource in the classroom. Although I am not yet a teacher, I already have a few ideas of how I can use these tools in my future classroom. One way I plan introducing the use of spreadsheets is through a survey performed by the students. They survey will be about something of their choosing (favorite foods, number of siblings, time spent outside, just to name a few) and then be compiled into a database. This is also a great opportunity to learn about other subjects. For example, parts on an experiment (sample size, correlation vs. causation, sampling error, etc) or graph making, in order to effectively display the information that was gathered.

One simple way to utilize spreadsheets that I did not know about prior is an “attitude” scale. In this, kindergarteners’ daily behavior was recorded each day based on a color representing their behavior for the day. Then, at the end of each month, they would review the chart. This seems like a great way to introduce the concept, provide a visual guide for how they are doing, and allows for accountability for every student.

In searching for more resources featuring spreadsheets and databases, I found the Sabine “Classrooms that Excel Resources” page. On this page, there are basic tutorials, tips, and templates to use in Excel. Data sources and formulas and functions are also provided. The site has quite a few projects available at all grade levels! The neatest part of it that I saw was a collection of Spreadsheet Webquests. This seems like a very fun and interesting way to get students using spreadsheets!

Here is the link for this page: http://www.sabine.k12.la.us/class/excel_resources.htm