Spreadsheet/Database Lesson Ideas

Simple graphs and charts:

Graphs and charts can be used to improve students
understanding of data, and enhance their
presentations. When students work on their Exhibition,
they gather multiple sets of data about their chosen
issue, and adding a simple visual would allow them to
explain concepts in a clear and stylish way. For
example, they could illustrate changes in climate
(locally or globally), amount of food waste (at school,
at home, etc.), and more. Highlighting or manipulating
the way they show their data can assist them to better
get their point across.
The website Kidzone offers an interactive and simple
way to create five different charts and graphs.
Timelines:
Timelines are an excellent way to display changes and
developments across time. When students need to
display such data to present a research project, they
often spend valuable time creating a timeline by hand,
which is often difficult to read and modify. Using
Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint allows students
to craft an impressive timeline very quickly.
Surveys:
In order for students to display their survey results in
an aesthetically pleasing way, they can use Microsoft
Excel. Creating a graphic representation of a survey is
simple to create, and allows the user to quickly include
visual analysis of different elements, such as repeated
entries, averages, high and low points, and much
more.
Microsoft Education offers excellent tutorials for Excel,
and this tutorial explains how to create a survey and
use a formula to display a pie chart of select data.
What-If Scenarios:
Science students conduct various experiments to
learn about different phenomena. Often, these
experiments include many variables, which need to be
manipulated. Using Microsoft Excel, students can
learn to gather data and manipulate different variables
in a scenario to change the end result. They can save
scenario data and substitute it to perform what-if
analyses to predict different outcomes.
This tutorial can teach students how to create these
What-If scenarios.

Lesson Plan using Microsoft Excel

Title: Calculation of funds raised during The Exhibition

Objectives:
Students will gather data about their Exhibition-related

fundraising events.

Students will use Microsoft Excel to create a spreadsheet about

the total amounts raised.
Students will create a chart to show the different funds raised.

Data:

Top Headings: Event name, Funds raised during Days 1,2, 3,

and Totals.

Left Headings: The different fundraising events/groups.

Data used: The funds collected and recorded at the end of each
event, each day.