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

28 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

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Spreadsheet Tutorials

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