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Graphing with Excel - Science

Integrated Science (freshmen) used Excel spreadsheets to create data tables and graph results.

Three scenarios were tried during the day:
1) every student had a computer, and worked individually on four required graphs. There were too many students for two teachers to assist well. They got two or three of the four graphs done, and had to finish for homework on theirown.

2) Students worked in their groups of 4 at the workstations, and each took a turn creating a graph with the help of her team. Most groups finished all four graphs and saved it to all four flash drives.

3) Students used two computers per team of 4. Each pair created two of the four required graphs. All but a few students finished in time, with teams helping out their pairs. Students who finished early became class helpers to assist students to complete the task.

I liked the third scenario best. Pairs worked better than groups of four because there was no way to tune out the work being done. It was manageable for the teachers, and having the quick-finishers jump in to help was great. We didn't have that with the groups of 4.

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