Download Eleetrollic Spreadsheets

178 PART TWO Rppl4inq Technoloqies for Effective Instruction
Helps to ensure that documents are grammatically
correct
Assists students in
• Proofreading and correcting their work
• Practicing the application of grammatical rules
Assists teachers in
• Demonstrating grammar corrections in real time
• Helping students find and correct grammatical errors
Helps to ensure that documents are free from spelling
errors
Assists students in
• Proofreading and correcting their work
• Practicing correct spelling
Assists teachers in
• Demonstrating spelling corrections in real time
• Helping students find and correct spelling errors
Provides an easy way to make form letters personal
Can be used by teachers to individualize reports to students
and letters to parents
Provides tools to present information professionally,
concisely, and clearly in an organized format
Assist students in
Converts files from documents 10 web format
so that they can be easily added to web sites
Allows students and teachers to create documents and
save them in Web format for display on aclass web site
without knowing any HTML
Provides an inexpensive and easy-to-access archive
system for documents
• Saved teacher data files are easy to access and update
to keep lessons current and available
• Students can save files for later work or find and reprint
lost hard copies
• Archived files can easily be added to electronic portfolios
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• Organizing data
• Presenting data clearly
• Summarizing key data
Assist teachers in
• Creating clear summaries for sludy guides
• Displaying organized data in support of presentation
• Teaching interpretation of data
Eleetrollic Spreadsheets
Electronic spreadsheet software is to numeric data what word-processing
software is to text. With an electronic spreadsheet, you can organize, input,
edit, and chart data, and produce accurate professional reports for any ad­
ministrative task that deals extensively with numbers. Spreadsheet soft­
ware not only allows you to organize numeric information but also has
built-in mathematical and statistical formulas that can be applied to the
data with just a few clicks of the mouse button. With a spreadsheet, bud­
gets can be easily developed and modified, grades can be tracked and aver­
aged, and class statistical information can be extracted. Furthermore, most
spreadsheets include built-in graphing capabilities that can turn numeric
data into colorful, three-dimensional charts that will visually illustrate nu­
meric relationshi ps.
[HRPTE~
S Rdministrative Software
One of the key advantages of electronic spreadsheets over their manual
counterparts is in their accuracy. Given accurate data, a spreadsheet will
always produce accurate results. A second advantage is the fact that
spreadsheets can be modified easily. Consider as an example the grade­
level media budget pictured in Figure 5.2. If it had been done manually
and the cost of printer cartridges turned out to be $10 instead of the bud­
geted $8, you would have to erase and recalculate a number of different en­
tries on the spreadsheet. With an electronic spreadsheet, however, you
would need to type in only the new value, and all the other entries associ­
ated with that value would be automatically recalculated. This time-saving
feature makes electronic spreadsheets easier to use, less time consuming,
and far more accurate than doing the calculations manually.
Several software vendors produce electronic spreadsheet programs.
Some of these, such as Microsoft Excel, are powerful, business-oriented
software packages that have numerous features. Others are for home or
general consumer use, such as the spreadsheet component of AppleWorks,
ClarisWorks, or Microsoft Works. Regardless of the capabilities of any
given spreadsheet package. they all have a full range of common features.
At mylabschool.com, there is material that demonstrates and provides
you practice with Excel, one of the most common of all electronic
spreadsheets. When you try the Excel Skills Builders, you will have an op­
portunity to see firsthand how the features of this useful tool can be ap­
plied in your classroom for both administrative and academic tasks.
179
Spreadsheets manipu­
late numeric data and
display it in tables
and charts,
Spreadsheet Organization
Electronic spreadsheets, like their paper counterparts, organize data into verti­
cal columns and horizontal rows. The user then types in alphabetic or nu­
meric data in the appropriate locations. This organizational structure provides
the framework for lining up and clearly labeling numeric information.
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TWO ApplLjinq Technoloqies for Effective Instruction
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The intersections of spreadsheet rows and columns are called cells. It
is in the nature and use of these cells that electronic spreadsheets have
great advantage over their manual counterparts. Each cell of a spreadsheet
can contain text, values, or a formula. This variety of cell content can be
seen in Figure 5.2. The cells in column A all contain text labels, and the
cells in column B all contain data representing budget amounts. The cells
in columns C through E contain labels, values, subtotals, or totals. Column
D's cells do not contain totals calculated by hand and then typed in. Instead,
they contain instructions to the spreadsheet software directing it to per­
form a mathematical calculation-in this case, multiplying the data en­
tered in columns Band C.
This independent data-handling capability of each spreadsheet cell
makes it a quick and easy task to alter or correct the data entered. Further­
more, once a single cell's data have been changed, that change will be re­
Hected in all cells that use those data for a calculation. Thus, if the budget
amount for lined paper in Figure 5.2 is changed, the print media subtotal
will also be changed, as will all other related totals. This automatic recal­
culation feature is one of the key reasons why spreadsheets have become as
popular a tool for handling numbers as word-processing software has be­
come for handling text.
Formulas and Functions
As in all math, formulas are used in a spreadsheet to indicate the types
of calculations that should be performed to achieve a specific outcome.
The cells that contain instructions that tell the software to perform spe­
cific mathematical activities may, in fact, contain detailed formulas that
the user has typed in. In addition to user-entered formulas, most
spreadsheets contain hundreds of stored, premade formulas that the
user can easily place into a cell. These range from formulas appropriate
to finance and statistics to those necessary for trigonometry. These
built-in formulas make it particularly easy to direct the spreadsheet
software to perform complex mathematical tasks without the user hav­
ing to remember the specific syntax of mathematical expressions. You
will practice using formulas and functions in the Excel Skills Builder
activity, Club Budget. at mylabschool.com. Once you are comfortable
with the software, you will find electronic spreadsheets to be powerful
and useful tools.
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decision making.
What-If Analysis
Perhaps the most intriguing feature of an electronic spreadsheet is its ability
to perform what-if analysis. Because some cells contain the mathematical
results of the data in other cells, changes to those data can be immediately
reHected in the product. For example, a teacher who is using a spreadsheet
to compute grades will have entered not only student grade data but also
the formula needed to reflect how those grades will be averaged or
weighted. So if a student wanted to know what his or her average would
be if the score on the next test were 100 percent, the teacher could enter
the hypothetical 100 percent into the spreadsheet, and the student could
see the result in terms of a final grade computation. This is a what-if
analysis; that is, what if the student gets a grade of 100 percent-how
[HRPTE~
S Rdministrative Software
181
will that affect the outcome? This is a valuable tool for both business
and education. Some educators have students keep spreadsheets of their
own grades to motivate their achievement and to stay aware of their
grade in a course.
Charts and Graphs
Another useful feature of almost all spreadsheet software is the ability
to turn the data that have been entered into rows and columns into its
graphic counterpart. The graphing (also called charting) function allows
the user to select specific cells, and the software will automatically turn
the data in those cells into an accurate graph in any number of formats
from line, to bar, to pie charts. Some spreadsheet software even adds the
ability to graph in color and three-dimensional shapes. For profes­
sional-looking displays and to assist visual learners, this spreadsheet
tool is extremely useful. The Student Measurement Skills Builder activ­
ity at mylabschool.com will demonstrate the instructional power of this
feature.
Templates and Macros
Like word-processing software, spreadsheet software makes use of tem­
plates and macros, allowing the user to create and reuse useful spread­
sheet formats and commands. Spreadsheet templates and macros can
also be found as shareware or freeware at numerous educational web
sites. You can also create your own spreadsheet templates. Try the Excel
Skills Builder activity Grade Keeper, at mylabschool.com, to experience
this feature.
Electronic Spreadsheets in the Classroom
Table 5.4 shows how many of a spreadsheet's key features can be used both
administratively and in teaching and learning. Just as word-processing
software can be repurposed for academic projects, so too can spreadsheet
software. Whether a teacher uses a spreadsheet to track grades or a student
uses a spreadsheet to collect and record data from an experiment, this
software provides a wealth of possibilities to the creative teacher. See the
In the Classroom feature on page 183 for just a few of the many creative
activities that educators around the country have developed for using
this software. Many more ideas are shared on the Web. Try On the Web!
Activity 5.2 to discover even more creative adaptations of spreadsheet
software.
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How Can Spreadsheets Enhance
Teaching and Learning?
Database Management Software
Every educator's job includes the cumbersome tasks of organizing, main­
taining, and retrieving many types of data. Whether it is a student's home
phone number or a school district's targeted language arts objectives for
the sixth grade, educators must be able to easily and quickly gain access to
and extract the information they need. The productivity software that ac­
complishes this type of task electronically is called a database manage­
ment system.
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182 PRRT TWO RpplLjinq Technoloqies for Effective Instruction
TRBLE 5.4
SPREADSHEET
FEATURE
ELectronic Spreadsheets in Teaching and Learning
Allow for the preparation and display of clearly or­
ganized numerical data on individual spreadsheets
and in workbooks or related spreadsheets
Assist students in
• Organizing numerical data
• Creating and testing formulas
• Formatting data to produce clear and concise reports
Assist teachers in
• Organizing and reporting numerical data
• Creating customized gradebooks
• Tracki ng student data
• Presenting clear reports
Provides premade formats to give aspreadsheet a
distinct professional appearance
Teachers and students can create appealing, professional-looking
spreadsheet reports
Provides easy-lo-use tools for visual displays of
numeric data
Provides students with
• Atool for visual presentation in student reports
• Atool to view saved data visually for better understanding
• Away to visually explore alterations of the numeric data stored
in the spreadsheet
Provides teachers with
• Atool for preparing visual reports of abstract mathematical re­
lationships
• Apresentation tool to demonstrate numeric data visually
Assist in preparing accurate calculations that will
automatically adjust to changes in data
Help students
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• Create and test formulas
• See changes in mathematical relationships as data changes
Help teachers
• Demonstrate mathematical concepts in action
• Test and use appropriate grading formulas
• Demonstrate to students how final grades are calculated
Allows for the real-time demonstration ot the im­
pact of changes in data; e.g., bUdgeted amounts
can be tested for different results
Assists students in
• Seeing the impact of data changes on outcomes in mathemati­
cal scenarios
• Testing relationships and outcomes by manipulating data
Assists teachers in
• Demonstrating changes and their impact on the results
• Explaining how different test grades will affect astudent's final
grade
Provides an inexpensive and easy way to store and
access worksheets for budgets and other numeric
files
Saved data files are easy to access and update to keep records
current; students using spreadsheets for math practice can re­
trieve as needed
WHRT -IF RnRLYSIS
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APPLICATION TO
TEACHING AND LEARNING TASKS
APPLICATION TO
ADMINISTRATIVE/PROFESSIONAL TASKS
CHRPTER 5 Rdministrative Software
183
Classroom
IN THE SECONDARY
BUSINESS CLASS
David Messina, busi ness teacher
at Reagan High School in
Houston, Texas, introduces a lesson on Microsoft Excel's
spreadsheet software:
Some of you will go to college, others will go straight
into the workforce, and some will enter the military. It is
important to see what opportunities will await you. The
following assignment will provide you with the opportu­
nity to see how much money you will potentially earn
and how much it will cost you to live in various cities.
You will find that you pay different taxes in different
states. You will discover how the cost of living can vary.
He narrows the focus by telling them that working in groups
they will have access to information to be placed into a
spreadsheet. To begin, they are directed to the Occupational
Outlook web site where they will find the entry-level salary in
a career of their choice. Given a list of 16 cities, the students
select five to compare the cost of living with that in Houston.
Moving to the third section of the assignment, the students
determine the tax rate for the states; and going to the
Paycheck City web site, they estimate their net pay for each
city. With all the data before them, Mr. Messina informs them:
In your groups, discuss and decide on a format that in­
corporates all the information you have gathered into a
spreadsheet. You must create column headings for salary,
gross salary, the different taxes, cost of living, and other
important information you have found. Your spread­
sheet must contain at least three formulas. Use the in­
formation you have found to create possible formulas.
Finally, they write up an analysis of their findings by compar­
ing and contrasting "different costs of living and tax rates
from different states."
IN THE ELEMENTARY CLASS
Gayle Ryan, an elementary school teacher in the Chicago public
schools, has shown that even the students in her K-2 classes
can work with spreadsheets. They learn to use Microsoft Excel
"to chart individual math totals," she explains. They measure
their heights in inches and write the numbers on paper. Next,
they "type the height in inches by their name on an Excel
chart." She shows them "how to highlight the data and click the
Chart Icon." Each student then receives a copy of the chart to
take home. The chart allows them to visualize the range of
heights in their class. Ms. Ryan assigns a follow-up activity for
the students to "measure different objects in the classroom and
around the school building and chart the heights on Excel." For
homework, they "measure" objects at home and "bring the data
in inches to school to chart on Excel."
Messina, D. (2003, January 24). Building your future.
Retrieved August 12, 2004, from www.teachers.net/
lessons/ posts/ 2800.html.
Ryan, G. Charting heights on Excel. Retrieved July 18,
2005, from www.cps.k12.il.us.
Database management software offers educators an easy-to-use system
for creating customized records to contain data, retrieving targeted records,
updating and editing the information in those records, and then organizing
clear and accurate reports from the data (see Figure 5.3). Furthermore,
database software allows you to sort all your data automatically at the
touch of a key or to query the database for a match to any single word or
phrase. Considering the amount of information an educator must deal
with, database management software offers many advantages over manual
filing systems.
An electronic card catalog in a media center library is one example of
the advantage of database management systems over manual systems.
Consider for a moment the complexity of cataloging or locating a book using
a manual system. In mrmual cataloging, a book must be cross-referenced on
at least three different index cards under title, author. amI subject. All of
Database management
software can organize,
sort, retrieve, and
report data
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184 PRRT TWO Rpplljinq Technoloqies for Effective Instruction
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Using a Database
Management System for
Student Data
Database management soft­
ware helps teachers organize
student information.
Microsoft Access® is a registered
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Students
ID Stmumt #
Name
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City
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Janie
32 Berry
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Susan
32 East
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these must be typed out and manually sorted and filed. To find the book,
the card catalog user must look through drawers full of cards until just the
right card is located. For both the media specialist and the library patron,
the process can be laborious. With an electronic card catalog that is a dedi­
cated database management system of the library collections. the process is
much simplified.
All database management software contains key features to make the
organization and manipulation of data easy. These key features are summa­
rized in Table 5.5. Of course database management software packages vary
significantly in the extent to which they can perform these functions, and
powerful business database systems offer many additional features.
At mylabschool.com, you will find activities that demonstrate and pro­
vide you practice with Access, Microsoft's popular and powerful database
management software. When you try the Access Skills Builders, you will
have an opportunity to experience how the features of this powerful busi­
ness tool can also be creatively applied in your classroom to your adminis­
trative and academic tasks.
Database Organization
In database management systems, a field is the electronic storage location
in which a specific type of data is stored. In our library example, a field
might contain an author's last name in a Last Name field. A record is a col­
lection of all related fields, such as a record that contains all the informa­
tion about a specific book. A file is a collection of all related records, such
as a file containing records representing all the books in a library. This or­
ganizational structure provides the facility with the ability to organize and
manipulate data at both the macro and micro levels and to easily update
and accurately maintain information.
[HRPTER S Rdministrative Software
TRBLE S.S
DATABASE
FEATURE
DRTRBRSES
FORms
Database Management Software in Teaching and Learning
APPLICATION TO
ADMINISTRATIVE/PROFESSIONAL TASKS
APPLICATION TO
TEACHING AND LEARNING TASKS
• Allow lor the definition of customized database
formats
• Provide for inputting and storing large amounts
of complex and/or cumbersome data
Assist students in
• Thinking through and creating logical data organizations
• Easily entering data for subsequent organization and reporting
Assist teachers in
• Creating customized data organization that suits their specific
needs
• Managing student and content data
Provide a10rmat for support staH and aides to
input data
Teachers can create easy-to-use and lamiliar input screens for
students to use
Professional-looking output created by tools and
wizards
Assists students in
• Presenting project data in avariety of attractive formats
Assists teachers in
• Customizing output for each student class, or lesson
Provides multiple levels of sorts to make data easy
to comprehend
Assists students in
• Practicing alphabetizing skills
• Thinking abstractly to determine appropriate sorts
• Presenting data clearly
Assists teachers in
• Presenting dafa to students in an easy-to-use format
• Demonstrating critical-thinking and alphabetizing skills
• Preparing logical reports
Provide for customized output through the
selection 01 speci1ic records based on predeJined
criteria
Assist students In
• Practicing logical and critical-thinking skills
• Finding and reporting targeted data
• Identifying key criteria to look for
Assist teachers in
• Finding and working with only those records needed
• Demonstrating concepts in equality and Boolean logic
• Presenting real-time demonstrations of critical thinking
Provides an inexpensive and easy way to store and
access data
Saved database 1i1es are easy means to use to
REPORTS
SORTinG
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185
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Query data
Access data
Update information
Sort data
Make reports
In our library example, the media specialist can simply type in the data
representing a new acquisition in a new record in the media center's data­
base file. The database software automatically stores the new record. From
that point on, the user can access that new record according to the data
stored in any of the information fields on the record. By typing in a key word
www.ablongman.com/lever-duffy3e
186 PRRT TWO Rppl4inq Technoloqies for Effective Instruction
or phrase, the user can retrieve the desired record from the database. This
electronic process is a fast and accurate data input and retrieval system.
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Sorting
Once entered, records can be sorted according to the data in anyone or in
multiple fields. Sorting arranges all records in a database into ascending
or descending order based on the alphabetic or numeric characters stored
in any field. In our library example, with this sort function, no matter
how many additions or deletions to the library's collection of books may
occur, the database of holdings is always in alphabetical order and ready
to use. And because all the data are stored electronically and automati­
cally sorted, a record cannot be as easily removed or misfiled as is possi­
ble in a manual svstem.
Querying
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One of the most significant features of database management is the ability
to find one single item of data from the potentially thousands of items in a
database. When querying a database, the user instructs the software to look
for and match targeted criteria. In our library example, to find a specific
author's name, you would, in a query operation, instruct the software to
look in the Last Name fields of all records to find that targeted last name.
Once it is found, the software returns the record in which the matching
name resides. Despite the size of the database, any single item of informa­
tion can be quickly and easily accessed. The PTA Membership Skills
Builder at mylabschool.com will demonstrate an Access query and give
you practice using this feature.
Reports
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Using Database Management
Software to Enhance Teaching
and Learning
Whether you need to print a written summary of all of the records in the
database or only those resulting from a query, most database management
software packages contain report formats that ensure a professional and
polished look. Reports are essentially templates built into the software to
create output that is attractive and easy to read. Although it is possible to
print the entire database, including all fields of all records, if the database
is large, this can result in an overwhelming and difficult-to-read quantity
of data. Using a report instead allows you to use the results of a database
query to report only those records you want and then to identify and dis­
play only the desired fields within the records. In our library example, we
can easily query the database to find any new additions to the library and
then create a New Acquisitions Report that includes only the most perti­
nent information about each book. Your Science Database Skills Builder
activity at mylabschool.com will help you master effective reports as well
as the other essential features of this versatile software.
Database Management in the CLassroom
Like word-processing and spreadsheet software, database management soft­
ware, when creatively applied by educators, can be more than a productivity
tool. It can become a creative teaching and learning tool when used to catego­
rize, store, access, and retrieve large amounts of data or to demonstrate logic
when creating a query. More ideas are available in On the Web! Activity 5.3.