Spreadsheets make sense
“by having students regularly demonstrate their maths in a spreadsheet they have the opportunity to learn skills they will use for a lifetime”
Keeler, 2015
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"Spreadsheets build an ideal bridge between arithmetic and algebra and allow the student free movement between the two worlds. Students look for patterns, construct algebraic expressions, generalize concepts, justify conjectures, and establish the equivalence of two models as intrinsic and meaningful needs rather than as arbitrary requirements posed by the teacher."
Alex Friedlander, "An Excellent Bridge to Algebra" (Mathematics Teacher, 1998, 91(50), 382-383)
Kane Tanaka from Fukuoka, Japan, has been officially confirmed as the oldest person living at 116 years 66 days old as of 9 March 2019.
She was born on January 2 1903
Activity 1 : Learning to use formulae
If algebra is about seeing patterns and making connections, how can we connect number, geometry & algebra?
One approach... think about the number 180;
180 degrees on a straight line
180 degrees is the sum of the interior angles in a triangle
180 degrees in a semicircle
180 is an even number and a multiple of 10
180 in standard form looks like this 1.8 x 10 ^2
Activity 2 : What pairs of numbers add up to 180?
The point of a spreadsheet is to have your data organized neatly so you can run calculations on it easily, create graphs and reorder and filter your data.
Top row should be headers with labels.
If labels aren't clear, include a ReadMe or a Help Tab. Also use a separate Tab for any notes
Each row under that is a single record.
Each column is a single variable.
Every column should be consistent.
All numbers should have the same number of decimal places. All dates should be formatted consistently. All Text fields should use controlled vocabulary. All coded values should be consistent.
Don't use color or comments to add meaning
Color and comments may not migrate into new formats and the meaning of colors are easily forgotten. Instead, add another column with the information you want to note
Don't leave cells empty
Have a method for noting "No Answer", "Null", or "Missing" values so these cells are not mistaken as zeros or otherwise misinterpreted
Investigation Ideas
Investigation Ideas
1. Why am I always broke? Income - Expenses = Profit or is it Debt
2. Woof Woof - owning a dog
3. Brmm Brmm - running a car
4. Will i be able to retire with kiwisaver? YES Hot Topic Kiwisaver
5. Taking a road Trip (AKA going on holiday) YES Hot Topic Exchange rates
Chance and Data
2. Simulation : Lightning Strike
4. Scraping data from websites (Anna's keynote) using the formula =IMPORTHTML (“siteurl”,”TABLE”,1)
Google Sites
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