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Integrating Spreadsheets into Your Curriculum


What does it do? An electronic spreadsheet tool provides an opportunity for students to easily and quickly enter data into a table and then click a few buttons to have the computer generate a variety of graph types, including bar, chart, pie, line, bubble and many more.  The ease in generating graphs encourages students to generate different types using the same information, and allows for followup discussion that prompts students to compare and contrast the data as well as which representation most effectively communicates a certain observation about the data. 
How does this tie in with literacy strategies in Grades 4-8?
Students learn how to compose effective summaries of information using relevant data and visual forms (e.g. graphs, charts, illustrations, diagrams).  They can actively design spreadsheets to convey content clearly and understandably while improving the effectiveness of a presentation through visual forms.  Spreadsheets help to concretely make the connection between text, numbers, data, information and the real world. With practice, students can learn how to select and use appropriate production techniques, materials, and technology to create a quality product or performance. 
Online Resources Online Examples 

 
 
Responding to Content Area Texts with Spreadsheets





This graph from fifth grader Kyle could have been created as a response to reading content area information to help students better visualize the differences in weight of each of these animals.  By actively generating this chart and viewing the corresponding bar graph, students can see the relationship and overlap between math, reading and problem solving in a certain content area. 
 

chart and bar graph of animal weights

 

A similar example of this type of visualization to improve comprehension can be seen with text taken from a content area textbook or even a fictional short story or novel.   This example comes from an 8th grade integrated language arts research project. 

Here's the text: 

Here's the corresponding pie graph, a different type of visual for many students.  Once information from the text is displayed in this new way, a quick lesson about pie graph reading can enhance your study of whatever content is being graphed and analyzed. 

 

This lesson idea is from The Franklin Institute for an elementary class response to Hungry Mungry, a poem from Shel Silverstein, using a spreadsheet chart to generate a pie graph. The poem tells of a ridiculously voracious young man, named Mungry, and his crazy exploits in eating.  After tabulating his consumption using spreadsheet software, the students were able to generate these two visual representations and discuss the different qualities of each: 

Pie graph: 



Bar graph:

After reading a text with a certain message, students can extend their understanding and appreciation for a certain character's perspective by making connections between a character's or passage's message and  their own personal lives.  In this example, perhaps a character was somehow affected by pollution or students read a personal new story about the negative effects of human trash.  Students could use a spreasheet to record and track their own personal response to this important issue.  A simple change in the focus could help students connect their response with science, social studies or literature. 
 


"Don't Trash the Earth" worksheet created in Microsoft Excel