Spreadsheet Tutorial 1: Formulae, Functions, and Averages

Topic

Resource Type

Level

High School — General High School — AP/IB College

Used In

1 BioInteractive Playlists

Saved By

20 Users

Description

In this activity, students use the built-in functions in Excel or Google Sheets to calculate the mean and median. Students apply what they learned to a dataset beak measurements of Galapágos finches.

The activity serves as an introduction to spreadsheet programs. It describes the basic organization of a worksheet, how to organize and format data, how to perform simple mathematical calculations, how to use built-in mathematical functions, and how to select and manipulate a range of numbers.

Student Learning Targets

Using spreadsheet functions, calculate the mean for a set of measurements.

Estimated Time

One to two 50-minute class periods.

Key Terms

analysis, calculation, column, data, formula, function, Galapágos finches, range, sorting, variation

Terms of Use

The resource is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. No rights are granted to use HHMI’s or BioInteractive’s names or logos independent from this Resource or in any derivative works.

Version History

Date Published 09.15.15

Date Updated 04.22.16

Common Core (2010)

Math.N-Q.1, Math.F-LE.5, Math.A-SSE.3, Math.A-REI.3, Math.S-ID.5, Math.S-IC.3; MP1, MP2, MP4, MP5

AP Biology (2019)

SP5

Educator Tips

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Educator standing in front of an image of a spreadsheet.

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1-Minute Tips

Spreadsheet Tutorials

Takisha Reece describes how her students use BioInteractive's spreadsheet tutorials to learn how to use spreadsheet applications for data analysis and statistics. Her students use these applications to analyze their data, and then to produce charts and graphs for their poster projects.

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