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To kick off the new year, here are some themes and projects we'll be tracking in the months ahead:
The focus for this month's issue is data collection. We all feel strongly that this is one of the most important and necessary topics to be covered in the classroom. It is a dynamic way to gain knowledge, make discoveries, and integrate technology into the classroom curriculum.
To introduce the process, Jeff will give you some examples of how we, at Sun Associates, use data collection in the work we perform for school districts. Kerry has constructed an Olympic medal data collection project, ready to be put to use during the upcoming Olympic games, and Roxy has found several data project web sites that can be useful in your planning of a data project. Since data projects often get us thinking about spreadsheets, Lois has come up with a Tech Tip that will teach you about features of Excel that you may not have known even existed.
We hope you find these topics useful, and we also hope that it will inspire you to include a data project of your own in your science, math, or history curriculum.
I. THIS MONTH'S FEATURE: Gathering and Using Data
II. INTEGRATION IDEA OF THE MONTH: 2002 Olympic Data Project
III. WEB SPOTLIGHT: Focus on Data Project Internet Sites
IV. TECH TIP OF THE MONTH: Data Filters and Spreadsheet Functions
V. HOW TO SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE
Back issues of Sun Associates news are also available online.
Increasingly, teachers and administrators are asked to provide data as to the impact or effectiveness of educational programs. Technology programs are no exception. Technology funds flowing from the federal government - funds block granted to districts and/or provided through competitive grant programs - are now tied to the accountability requirements of the recently-passed No Child Left Behind ESEA reauthorization. This means that districts will need to develop ways of showing that the funds they are spending on technology have some direct connection to student achievement.
Most school districts are quite unprepared to demonstrate the connections between various initiatives and student achievement. While this is a tremendously complex problem, one place to start in terms of developing a solution is to review your district's current strategies and policies for data collection. How do you collect data on student and teacher technology use? What do you look for? What's the best strategy for collecting more than "computer counts?"
Sun Associates works with districts to formulate strategies and processes for collecting meaningful evaluation data. Our online article on Data Collection for Technology Evaluation provides a basic overview of key strategies for establishing meaningful technology evaluation.
II. INTEGRATION PROJECT OF THE MONTH: Analyzing Data From
the 2002 Winter Olympics
by Kerry McLaughlin
The Olympic games are fast approaching. Aside from offering students terrific models for self-discipline and perseverance, the games offer teachers a captivating opportunity to design curriculum activities that make use of data and data-gathering techniques. Therefore, this month's Integration Project is a data collection lesson on the 2002 Olympic Games.
Curriculum Area: Math
Grade Level: 4-6
Skills Developed: Organizing data collection by creating a spreadsheet and graph using Excel
Student Grouping: Individual or pairs
Time: Approximately two weeks (length of Olympic Games)
Technology Used: Microsoft Excel, Internet
This project has three distinct phases. In phase one, Gathering Data, you and your students will use a data collection tool (a worksheet to keep track of medal winners during February 8 - 24. In phase two, Creating Charts, students will transfer their data into an Excel worksheet. Phase three is up to you. Try some of the filtering functions described in this month's Tech Tip, or make up your own. We've included a list of extension activities and project ideas for you to follow for this project or for another data project after the Olympics are over.
As always, if you've come up with some good ideas, please share them with us, so that we can share them with more teachers. Enjoy!
To access the complete lesson plan for this data project, visit the Sun Associates web site.
Following this month's theme of gathering and using data, we have collected a set of WWW links that give you stimulating ideas on which to build data projects.
Adventures in Statistics
Are 6th grade classrooms larger, on the average, than 5th grade classrooms? This is just one of the statistical projects to be found on this site. Lessons incorporate measurement, graphing, computation, data analysis, and presentation activities.National Center for Educational Statistics "Find Your School"
Find population data for 120,000 public and private schools nationwide in this database to chart and compare. Create a data project based on school populations, for instance calculate average class sizes, teacher-student ratios, student-computer ratios, etc. Other database links lead you to "Find Your Library," and "College Search."Down the Drain
This Internet-based, collaborative, project asks students to share information about water usage with other students from around the world. Using data collected by their household members and their classmates, students determine the average amount of water used by one person in a day, a week, and a year. They then compare this to the average amount of water used per person per day in other parts of the world.Math WebQuests
In these projects, students use Internet resources to gather, analyze, and chart data on a range of subjects such as -- "Most Thrilling Roller Coaster Ride", (based on height, length and speed), "World Shopping Spree" (converting dollars and comparing prices of items around the world), "Best Weather City", (comparing monthly temperatures and rainfall of various cities), "National Park Vacation", (comparing travel costs and sights), and "Baseball Predictions"(comparing winning statistics of teams to individual players' statistics). There are also resources available for teachers to create their own mathematics-based WebQuests.Census in Schools Teaching Materials
The U.S. Census Bureau is providing educators with teaching tools, resource materials, workshops and other professional development opportunities for grades K-12.
If you would like to share some of the WWW gems that you have discovered, please email us at newsletter@sun-associates.com and we might include your favorites on one of our upcoming lists. Please let us know if we can publish your name, school and/or email address so that teachers may be able to contact you.
IV. TECH TIP OF THE MONTH - Data Filters and Spreadsheet
Functions
By Lois Reynolds
Students are presented with many sources of data. Some of these include published data, textbooks, the World Wide Web, and media presentations. Although students may gain some insight by reading someone else's data analysis, it's a much more engaging experience if students can collect and analyze their own data. We have found that data analysis tools are especially useful in encouraging active, collaborative, learning and critical thinking.
This month's Tech Tip explores some of the many data analysis functions built into Microsoft Excel. Using these functions, students can perform analysis functions from simple filtering of data to more complicated "what-if" scenarios. To get you started using these functions, our tip provides step-by-step instructions on filtering, and the use of Excel's "Function Bar."
If you have a tech tip you would like to share with other readers, send it to us via email . Let us know if we can publish your name and contact information. If we use your tip, we'll send you a gift!
VI. HOW TO SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE
We hope you enjoyed reading the ideas and information in Sun Associates News. If you have received this newsletter forwarded by a friend and would like to receive your own copy via email, simply send an email -- with the word SUBSCRIBE in the subject. If you would prefer not to receive future issues via email please let us know. Just put the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject of your email message.
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Information on this site that has been produced by Sun Associates is Copyright 1997 - 2006 Sun Associates and is available for individual, one-time, use by educators. Duplication is prohibited without permission. All other material is the property of its authors and Sun Associates makes no warranty for its use or accuracy.
Last updated,February 1, 2002