Spreadsheet Tutorial 3: Column Graphs, Error Bars, and Standard Error of the Mean

Topic

Resource Type

Level

High School — General High School — AP/IB College

Used In

1 BioInteractive Playlists

Saved By

21 Users

Description

In this activity, students explore different ways of creating simple bar graphs and adding error bars from calculated statistical values using built-in functions in Excel or Google Sheets. Students apply what they learned by plotting beak size measurements of Galapágos finches collected before and after a drought.

This activity covers statistical concepts including standard error of the mean and confidence interval.

Student Learning Targets

Use a spreadsheet program to calculate the standard error of the mean for a sample data set.
Create a bar graph and add error bars showing the standard error of the mean.

Estimated Time

One to two 50-minute class periods.

Key Terms

analysis, average, column graph, confidence, data, Galapágos finches, mean, plot, standard deviation, sum of squares, variance

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.