Tip:
Spreadsheets are abstract concepts to many teachers and students. The best way to make it easily understood is by using real data:
- Provide each participant a bag of different color candies such as M&Ms or Skittles.
- Walk them through setting up a worksheet calculating the totals and averages of each color in the bags.
Or for those a little more adventurous, set up a profit and loss statement for a made up small business:
- Use a pet store as your imaginary business.
- Create categories for pets with fur, pets that swim, etc.
- Create subcategories for expenses such as food, cages, marketing, etc. and for income estimating selling price per animal.
Have participants pair and share their worksheets and in the first example, their data.
Submitted by:Barbara Bray
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