Numbers (Excel) 1.1 - Grade Book Activity

In the first Numbers (Excel) spreadsheet activity, we manipulated data with formulas, did a lot of formatting and copying, and created a bar chart.  Most of these steps I had done before but it has been a while so my skills were definitely a bit rusty.  I was able to download the spreadsheet and create the functions for Average, Min, Max and Range without any issue.  I was aware of the handle trick and have used it often in the past, so copying the formulas across the columns for each 'Term' worksheet went pretty quickly.  I had forgotten about the format painter, so using that was a good refresh for my memory.

Next we created another worksheet to contain the Semester Final Grades.  I don't remember creating a formula that spanned worksheets in the past, so I wondered how it was going to go.  I was pleasantly surprised when I used the Average function on one worksheet and was able to click around to the other sheets to select the cells I needed to add as part of the formula.  Easy peasy.  Isn't technology great!

Creating the bar chart gave me a bit of a headache.  I selected the range of names and the range of scores and got a CRAZY looking graph like this:

I don't know what the heck that was.  It wasn't exactly what I was expecting.  I had to format the chart a bit, change axis data and play around to turn it into a usable chart.

After all the movin' and shakin' I was able to upload my Excel Grade spreadsheet to Google drive in case you are dying to have a look :)

I realize the uses for excel are limitless and with access on Google drive there isn't any expensive software to buy.  I assume teachers are using excel to keep track of grades, however I wonder -  with new internet databases for grade-keeping, such as Clarity, will teachers continue to use the program.  I supposed time will tell.

NETS:

3c - Excel could be used to communicate information to students, parents, and peers.

3d - Data is excel can be manipulated in different ways to analyze and evaluate scores and other information to support learning.