Spreadsheet Tutorial 2: Autofill Data, Cell References, and Standard Deviation

Topic

Resource Type

Level

High School — General High School — AP/IB College

Used In

1 BioInteractive Playlists

Favorited By

5 Users

Description

In this activity, students use the built-in functions in Excel or Google Sheets to explore different ways of filling in cells with a series of numbers, copying and pasting formulae, and referencing individual cells to use in calculations. Students apply what they learned by making different calculations with beak size measurements of Galapágos finches.

The activity introduces students to basic Excel functions routinely used in scientific research. They use these functions to calculate range, sum of squares, variance, and standard deviation.

You may download the Excel version of the activity or access the Google Sheets version.

Student Learning Targets

Use a spreadsheet program to calculate range, sum of squares, variance, and standard deviation.

Details

Estimated Time

One to two 50-minute class periods.

Key Terms

absolute reference, analysis, calculation, data, Galapágos finches, range, relative reference, variation

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

Updated 04.22.16

Curriculum Connections

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

Educator Tips

Hear how educators are using BioInteractive content in their teaching.

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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