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

Saved By

16 Members

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.

Student Learning Targets

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

Estimated Time

One to two 50-minute class periods.

Key Terms

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