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Using
Spreadsheets & Graphing to Present Research Data
This step-by-step tutorial walks students through building a spreadsheet, pie charts, and bar graphs with the data they gather. Students work in pairs at the computer--one at the keyboard and one following the instructions. Peter indicates appropriate places for pairs to switch in the handout. Part I: Collect Information to Create a Data Table1) Enter the information (or DATA) you gathered from your research yesterday in the chart below for your assigned country. (NOTE: In the year column, enter the year for your population figure, from your notecard if you have it, or from your reference card if you don't.)2) Collect DATA from other class members for the remaining countries in the table. Double check to make sure that the numbers for square kilometers are larger than that for square miles.
Part II: Entering Data in a Spreadsheet1) Go to an available computer with your partner. Follow the instructions on the white board to open a file called "SASS" by double-clicking on it. You'll see a screen that looks much like the blank version of the data table above. Your job in this part of the instructions is to enter the data you collected in your chart above in the computer spreadsheet. Here's how.2) Begin by clicking the mouse pointer in one of the empty rectangular spaces (CELLS) on your spreadsheet. The CELL you've clicked on, and every other CELL in the spreadsheet, has a unique name consisting of a letter and a number. It will appear on your screen (in the upper left corner) whenever you click on a CELL. Click on the CELL directly after Argentina and under Population and you'll see the cell's name appear as B3. Click on the CELL after Chile and under Area/sq. km and you'll see that that cell's name appears as E6.
NOTE: Though the naming of cells is pretty straightforward and may seem obvious to you, it is very important, because you'll need to identify information by cell name later on. Make sure you understand it before going on. 3) Once you're sure you understand the naming of cells, begin entering information in the cells themselves, using the data you collected in part one. To do so: 4) Click on cell B3, then type in the population figure you collected for Argentina. You'll notice that when you start typing, the numbers begin to appear in the blank space above your spreadsheet. That's good. (If you make a mistake while typing, you can press the <delete> key to back up.) 5) Once you've entered Argentina's population figure, you need to save your work. My motto is "save early, save often" so if the computer you're working on loses power or freezes, you won't lose too much work. If this is the first time you've saved a file on my computers, put these instructions aside and turn to the instructions for "SAVING YOUR WORK." Once you've done so, you can return to these instructions.
6) You now need to move from Argentina's population cell to reach other empty cells, which you can fill with your data. To get to the new cells, you have a few options: * Click on a new cell with your mouse, or * Press the <tab> key to move right one cell, or * Press the <return> key to move down one cell, or * Use the arrow keys to move up, down, left, or right. 7) Work your way around the spreadsheet, filling in all the cells from your written copy. Double check your figures as you go to make sure you haven't made any careless errors. Each time you do, save your work again. (Since you've already saved it once, all you have to do now is use the FILE>SAVE command from the menu bar, or the Apple + S keys.) 8) Finished? Great. Save your work one last time, then write the computer # ________ for the machine you've been using and the name you gave your file: ______________. Staple this sheet to your partner's, and turn both in before continuing your work at your desk. Part III: Creating a Pie Chart from a SpreadsheetQuick review: In the first part of this activity, you collected data from your classmates about the South American countries and entered that data into a spreadsheet, carefully typing in a number of cells to complete your data table. Each of those cells, you recall, has a unique name, consisting of a letter and a number, such as B3, D7, or Z234 (though your table didn't go that high.) Each cell's unique name identifies where it is on the spreadsheet. The letter represents a column on the spreadsheet, and the number represents a row. This is an important idea to keep in mind. If you get them confused, try thinking about them this way:Or come up with your own way of keeping them straight. Just remember: Rows are identified by numbers and go across the spreadsheet from side to side. Columns are identified by letters and stretch down the spreadsheet from top to bottom. Moving on: You and your partner are about to create a pie chart using the information you've collected and placed into your spreadsheet. Follow the steps below to do so. Whenever you see the word SWITCH, you and your partner should trade places at the computer so each gets a chance to perform the activities. Whenever you find a boxed question or set of blanks, you should answer them on your instructions. Step 1: To begin making your pie chart, OPEN your saved spreadsheet by double-clicking on your saved file name. You'll start by making a pie chart of the population figures you've gathered so far.
Step 2: Use the menu bar in your spreadsheet to choose Insert>Chart>On this sheet, or 
from the options at the top of the screen. Either choice will change your
cursor to a crosshair-and-chart symbol, which you can move around the
spreadsheet. Click anywhere on your spreadsheet to get a Chart Wizard
dialogue box like that below: SWITCHStep 3: Since the "selected cells" probably don't reflect exactly what you want, you'll need to define the range of columns and rows that reflect the population of the South American countries. With your mouse, click and drag from cell A3 to B15. The "range" in the dialog box should change to something like "=$A$3:$B$15". Press Next.Step 4: You'll receive a range of choices for your chart. For now, we're creating a simple pie chart, so choose the option in the upper right-hand corner, called "Pie"  and press Next. SWITCH. Step 5: You'll get another dialog box, this time asking what kind of pie chart you want to create. You'll want to show percentages, but not labels, for each country, so choose the second-to-last option in the dialog box (#6) shown above. Step 6: Yet another dialog box will appear, asking if you want labels, and where they might be. Make sure the button marked "columns" is checked, and that the box says Use First Column for Pie Slice Labels, as the example below. Press Next and guess what?  Step 7: One more dialog box appears, asking you to define a few last items on your chart. You'll want a Chart Title (Population of South America, for example) and a legend to show what each of the pie segments represents, so check the "Yes" button in response to the question "Add a legend?" Then press OK.  You will suddenly see your pie chart come to life, looking a little like this:  (Note: I only charted 5 of the countries, and used random numbers, so yours WILL look different.) You're almost done: SWITCH Step 8: While your chart has the little boxes on its borders (also known as handles) you can copy it to memory and place it somewhere else, and that's exactly what you're going to do. Use the Menubar to choose Edit > Copy and copy the chart into memory. |
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