As far as the data--after the numbers were figured out and graphed, it became apparent that the students whose progress we wanted to check had been doing better. The colorful chart showed steady improvement for them all. It occurs to me that, as a teacher, it might be a neat idea to graph an individual student's scores and invite the student to look at it (especially if the graph showed good news).
Undoubtedly, it is impressive to see a concise, colorful visual representation of student progress emerge from within a sea of recalcitrant numerals.
That's honesty :)
ReplyDeleteMany (if not most) folks really struggle with spread sheeting. It does take some practice, like any great tool. I'm confident if you practiced on little repetitive tasks (like average, deleting columns, charting) you'd find this to be a very easy tool to use. But, the first time everything is so overwhelming and frustrating it's hard to see how that is possible. So, hang in there!
As for the assignment, be sure to re-read the last part. The main purpose of this lesson is to take a small data table and analyze the results. Based on your chart, discuss the trends/exceptions. What story sits behind those lower students over the past 5 tests?
I have calmed down and now believe that if I practiced I would be able to do this! Probably within a day or two I will feel like trying some more practice.
ReplyDeleteAs far as evaluating the data, would you like that evaluation to appear here, on a google doc or other?
I went back and practiced with the google sheets and the data this morning and figured out how to make it work by myself.
ReplyDeleteI really feel like it is useful to be able to analyze data this way.
Wahoo. You just jumped the hurdles and smashed through the walls :)
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