1 / 18

Scott A. Sinex Department of Physical Sciences and Engineering Prince George’s Community College

Click-and-Think over Chalk-and-Talk: The New Pedagogy via Interactive Excel Spreadsheets in Mathematics and the Sciences. Scott A. Sinex Department of Physical Sciences and Engineering Prince George’s Community College. Presented at. 11-12 January 2007. The promise in the abstract….

abie
Download Presentation

Scott A. Sinex Department of Physical Sciences and Engineering Prince George’s Community College

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Click-and-Think over Chalk-and-Talk:The New Pedagogy via Interactive Excel Spreadsheets in Mathematics and the Sciences Scott A. Sinex Department of Physical Sciences and Engineering Prince George’s Community College Presented at 11-12 January 2007

  2. The promise in the abstract… • Come experience Excel like you never have with off-the-shelf software and NO programming required! • See mathematics come alive and let the THINKING begin - it’s just a click away! • Get the resources for use in your classroom…

  3. Why Excel? • Ready off-the-shelf software • Found in the work-place • Found on home computers too • Easy to use by students • Can it be an interactive learning tool? (no marcos or VBA programming, just computation via formulas)

  4. ...as a tool in math and science • Great for handling, graphing, and analyzing data • Easy transforming of data such as taking the log • Regression and goodness-of-fit • So a great tool for mathematical modeling of data and presenting graphs Pre-set calculations & graphs – just add data Using Excel for... Scientific Data

  5. ...so now to Excelets! • Excelets are interactive Excel spreadsheets • A “Javaless” applet! • A simulation of a mathematical model or an illustration of a simple concept • A tool for higher-order thinking and illustrating science process • and a tool that is easy to construct!!!!!

  6. Why is pizza always cut in an even number of slices? What if it were cut in an odd number of slices? fractions.xls (Link to interactive spreadsheet)

  7. What is the difference between interpolation & extrapolation? What if you go beyond the limit of the data? interpol_extrapol.xls (Link to interactive spreadsheet)

  8. Does the height of a stack depend on the number of cookies? What if we used Double-stuf Oreos? cookies_stack.xls (Link to interactive spreadsheet)

  9. Here is a “just add data” spreadsheet. What if we added more… calorie_calc.xls (Link to interactive spreadsheet)

  10. Exploring Periodic Trends via interactive graphics PT_interactive.xls (Link to interactive spreadsheet)

  11. science Model Simulation excelets As a learning tool... • Active engagement of students • Numerical experimentation • Derive the ideal mathematical model • “What if” scenarios • Science processes • predictions • graphical interpretation • conclusions • random and systematic error (ideal to real) See Investigating Types of Errors

  12. …but do students learn anything and do they want to think? “More hands-on approach and critical thinking skills are better utilized” “It helps me by playing with the graph…” “Because it makes student think and have a visual mode…” “Do without the excel” Let’s examine some post-activity survey results

  13. Student feedback…

  14. More student feedback Exploring Radioactive Decay … Do you think this activity helped you understand the concepts involved with radioactive decay? *Results from final exam as similar question compared to project

  15. What do the students want to do – Think or Listen? For Exploring Radioactive Decay

  16. The “How to” resources... Developer's Guide to Excelets: Dynamic and Interactive Visualization with "Javaless" Applets or Interactive Excel Spreadsheets <http://academic.pgcc.edu/~ssinex/excelets> Tutorial, instructions, and a variety of interactive Excel spreadsheet examples Resource list for mathematics and science

  17. Some final thoughts… • Engages students in higher-order thinking • Interpretation/Analysis/Synthesis • Engages students in algebraic thinking • Variables/Patterns/Representations • Engages students in science process • Hypotheses /Predictions/Conclusions • Reeks of meeting national standards in mathematics, the sciences, and technology • AMATYC/MAA/NCTM/NAS/NSTA/ISTE

  18. More info... • Scott Sinex – ssinex@pgcc.edu • See course webpages and publications http://academic.pgcc.edu/~ssinex • Webpages embedded in PowerPoint – get LiveWeb (http://skp.mvps.org/liveweb.htm) ...and THANKS for coming today!!!

More Related