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Spreadsheets in
Liberal Arts Mathematics
Gisela Ahlbrandt
Eastern Michigan University
Advantages over a graphing
calculator
 Cheaper,
lab use is free
 Spreadsheets are used in the “real” world,
 Output is nicer and can be printed,
 More intuitive
 More powerful, easy change of parameters
Disadvantage wrt a graphing
calculator
 Not
available in regular classroom,
 Takes more time to learn,
 Has so many features that it can feel
overwhelming for a student
 More work for the instructor to learn
The Course: Mth110
 Terminal
Math course, 3 credit hours,
 Satisfies the general education
requirement to prepare students to read
the news paper, quantitative reasoning,
elementary probability and statistics.
 Text: For All Practical Purposes, COMAP
The Students
 Have
usually no math requirement in their
program of studies, should have one year of
Algebra.
 Large variations in background.
 Many did not like math in school and resent
that they have to take a course at all, many
have never learnt basic concepts, many
lack number sense.
 Definitely a challenge to teach.
Excel Unit
 Comprises
about 20% of the course
 5 lab meetings and discussions in class
before and after the labs
 Lab projects, term papers.
Organization
 Prepare
the labs in the regular class
room, do some hand computations,
 Buddy-Pairs to spread computer
expertise
 Detailed lab instructions, I go through the
lab and help students individually.
Levels of Use
 1.
Students use prepared worksheets
 2. Students set up worksheet with
detailed instructions
 3. Students develop their own worksheet
to solve a problem
 4. Students write a term paper/report: set
up a worksheet to solve a problem,
create tables and graphs from
computations, import the results into a
text document.
Problems
 Computer
lab hard-ware problems
 Software problems: compatibility, no
money for latest versions, Mac versus
PC, missing macros
 No knowledgeable lab assistants
Examples of Projects
 Credit
Card Finance Charges
 Million Dollar Prize
 Minimum Wage over Time
http://www.emunix.emich.edu/~gisela/