|
July 1, 2000
Survey Projects and Tech Tools
By Cathy Nelson
As the media specialist, I wear many hats at a very small rural middle school (enrollment 277). Part of my job is to help instruct both students and teachers in technology. I have taught teachers to use Microsoft Office products through the instruction I have provided to their classes. One of my favorite units is our Survey Projects.
We (the teacher and I collaboratively) assign the schoolchildren a survey project. Each must develop his or her own survey question, administer the survey outside of class (i.e., at lunch), and return with a written data table. In class, the students must hand-draw two separate graphs based on the data collected. We then take them into a lab setting for three to five days, where they are exposed to Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint. Students are first taught to use Excel to create and modify graphs, then to copy and paste their data tables and created graphs into PowerPoint presentations.
The final product must have six or more slides in the following order: Introduction of Topic, Survey Question, Data Table, Graph 1, Graph 2, and Conclusions. The conclusions must state the overall results of the survey, as well as which graph reflects the results best and why. We then download the electronic Survey Projects to a laptop, and students return to their classrooms where they discuss individual projects with the class in oral presentations, using a laptop connected to a computer projector.
Students employ many of the South Carolina State Standards for English/Language Arts (speaking and writing skills), Technology Standards, and Mathematics Standards. Some of the sample projects can be viewed online at our school's Web page. We have obtained permission from these children and their parents to publish their finished assignments, which are now property of New Ellenton Middle School. By completing this unit, these students have added a new dimension to their repertoire of skills and tools for demonstrating competencies associated with learning standards.
Email: clnelson@scescape.net or cnelson@aiken.k12.sc.us
|
