Integrating spreadsheets in teaching and learning

Explore this spreadsheet (.xls 607kB) from Forces and fields.

The spreadsheet is part of an activity, related to the properties of EMR, to find a radio source. Interactive buttons and charts show the bearing and strength of a radio signal.

Getting started

Start with the Quality Teacher Program tutorial using spreadsheets in the science classroom. Then produce an integrated report from experimental data by creating a spreadsheet, and using formulas and formatting features, record green house gas emissions.

Use a one page teacher guide from CLI for Microsoft Excel in the classroom.

Research and benefits

Find a summary of potential benefits of spreadsheet use (.pdf 196 kB) and a review of research.

Read the Australian Mathematical Society’s Classroom notes (.pdf 213 kB), based on personal experience, with suggestions for using spreadsheets in class.

Read an Australian science teacher’s perspective (.pdf 140kB) on using spreadsheets in science.

Other resources

MI.Stupid.com has a collection of video tutorials of common tasks in Microsoft Excel.

For more ideas and downloadable spreadsheets try The Sourcebook for Teaching Science in the US, or the Kent ITC website in the UK. Online calculators are also an excellent use of spreadsheet technology.

Explore resources from CLI across a range of applications, for data analysis in science Stages 4–6. See also Site2See: Spreadsheets for mathematics and Databases for science.