Excel and statistics

Another head scratcher!  I have mentioned my misgivings with excel before and this is no different!
But, as usual, through some stroke of luck or perseverance, I make it through! Excel just does not compute with my brain, and to be completely honest, I'm not sure what I did here, but I can follow directions, so I accomplished the task.Initially I had difficulty with the add on. I had trouble making certain what I was doing was correct, I must have sorted things a million times, and I had trouble with excel uploading to Google docs! But, it all got figured out!  I can see why tabulating data and studying statistics is valuable, and hopefully once I feel more comfortable with it, I will use it more in the future, but I'm just not that tech savvy! I know people who get all excited about statistics, and I'm just not one of them. But, I do love a good info-graphic!

First, we had to go to NCES, the National Center for Education Statistics, and look at state comparisons for 4th grade reading in 2011. We then uploaded some information into a spreadsheet and computed the descriptive statistics. Then, we sorted the scores. I sorted mine from highest to lowest. I was not looking at West Virginia, but my home state of Louisiana. Ouch!  Louisiana was third to lowest in reading scores in 2011!

That is disheartening.

Learning applications like this one are valuable in that students and teachers can use it to supply valuable data, crunch numbers and study statistics. It is helpful with plotting graphs in math. It can visually show data to more visual learners (like me). It is important for teachers and students alike to be comfortable with this kind of application because it is very much used in the real world everyday. (and good to push chickens like me out of their comfort zone!)

NETS T standards associated with this are:
3) Model digital-age work and learning
5) Engage in professional growth and leadership

Skill and fluency are referenced-as well as transfer of current knowledge to new situations-and this exhibits those skills. It also shows how to collect, analyze and relay information as well as make use of emerging digital tools.