week 4

Five ways to incorporate Microsoft Excel into my school’s curriculum:

1.        Math

I think it would be a fun idea to do something in Excel with calculating averages, using numbers that the children find in the classroom.  One idea is to have them do some kind of physical activity like jumping jacks and find the average number of jumping jacks that could be performed by an elementary student in a given amount of time.  They could use an Excel spreadsheet to record their data.  I would have them find the average first manually and then teach them how the formulas can be plugged into the spreadsheet to find the same answer.  I like anything that can get the kids up and moving and burning off extra energy.  It would be something they would have to work as a class on too. 

2.       Science

I would use the Excel graphing feature to teach the children about natural science.  I’m thinking something like bird-watching would work here.  We could have a column with all the names of our birds and then just use Excel as a logbook of how often we spot the birds.  Depending on how we enter our data and how we graph it we could show which birds were spotted most often or how often a particular bird was spotted over a certain period of time.   

3.       Reading

So I have to admit that I regretted my decision to try incorporating Excel into every subject when I got to reading.  But I have an idea!  We could do a project in Excel where the students record how many pages of a chapter book they can read in a certain number of minutes.  Each student would have a spreadsheet where they would put the number of minutes they read each night in one column.  The fun part would be experimenting with different situations and how they affect our reading speed.  Each child would do a few nights of quiet reading first to get an average regular reading speed.  We could then do a night where we try to read with the TV on.   Then we could try to read and play a video game at the same time.  Then try to read while talking to a friend on the phone and so on and so forth.  I think I could teach the children something about healthy study habits by showing them in a graph what noise and double tasking does when you’re trying to read!  Plus they’d be learning how to graph data in Excel J 

4.       Social Studies

I would do something similar to the “planet weigh-in” activity but I would compare monetary values.  The class would be learning the names of different currencies and comparing their value to the American dollar.  We would plug formulas into Excel using the American dollar as a base value.  We would have a column of different items and a column of how many dollars they cost.  Then we’d have a column for each of the other currencies we were studying (Euros, Yen, etc.) and we’d have a formula for each that would multiply by whatever fraction of a dollar each of those currencies is. 

5.       I would also pitch Excel as an administrative tool for collecting and analyzing data concerning attendance, grades, test scores and even behavior in the classroom.  If I had a project for my students that had multiple steps involved I would definitely want a way of tracking how far each student was from completion.  Something like this would be easy in Excel because the empty cells would make an incomplete assignment crystal clear. 

And now…once again…Google Docs!

The feature that I love most about Google Docs is the “share” feature!  It keeps students connected to their classmates outside of class and helps them to stay interested because they can see their creations evolving as other students give their input.  It is the perfect tool for the Net Gen because they are all about instant access and communicating to work together.  If children are going to be online then they need to learn to be responsible online.  Using Google Docs is kind of like having your teacher online with you, guiding you to use applications responsibly and to access appropriate sites.  Just as students are collaborating with their classmates they are also collaborating and having dialogue with their teacher; dialogue that wouldn’t happen if the student-teacher relationship was restricted to the classroom.  Plus it cuts out a lot of paper and ink!