Spreadsheets

The most obvious spreadsheet to use is Excel, a Microsoft office product that many schools and students already have. This allows us to produce a data table, use a spreadsheet and draw a graph. However, before we look at Excel please be aware that there are other free-ware options out there that would fulfil the !T re"uirements at little or no cost. #iable alternatives include$ %&' (! )uite http$**www.software%&'.com*products*pcs* fly !alc +a web based system, http$**www.flysuite.com*en*start-flycalc.php.ww/us !lean)heets http$**csheets.sourceforge.net* 0ou can find many more 1ust by searching through the nternet and these are mostly opensource software and have free versions. 2lso there exist many stand-alone graphing packages including those bundled with most 3ata loggers and those included with the graphing calculators most 4 students now have. There also exist freeware options for graphing packages such as 506raph from http$**www.componentxtra.com* , but these are harder to find. Excel can be used at many levels and basic knowledge will allow students to fulfil the re"uirements. f the knowledge is basic, there are also many tutorials out there that you might choose to use to help either yourself or your students how to use Excel. The following list is 1ust a "uick list of free ones7 obviously some are better than others and some are set at levels which are above or below your present knowledge, so you 1ust have to look through them and find any that fit your needs.

Excel tutorials
4asic

www.usd.edu*trio*tut*excel* www.compusmart.ab.ca*alummis*excel*exceltutorial.html www.wcu.edu*ccenter-inf*!at8nline*M)E5* http$**www.uwec.edu*help*excel&9.htm

http$**www.datapigtechnologies.com*ExcelMain.htm

4it more advanced http$**www.internet:classrooms.com*on-line-excel.htm http$**phoenix.phys.clemson.edu*tutorials*excel* http$**aspire.cs.uah.edu*aspire*sc&;*excel-tutorial*exceltutorial-T8!.html

6raphing help http$**www.ncsu.edu*labwrite*res*gt*gt-menu.html http$**ed.fnal.gov*data*life-sci*data*tutorials*excel.shtml The new Excel http$**www.vertex:'.com*Excel'&&<*excel-tutorial.htm n the new sub1ect guide it states that$ Students will be required to use each of the following software applications at least once during the course.

Software for graph plotting A spreadsheet for data processing Excel fulfils those re"uirements. =or a non-assessed activity then students can use the software and you can guide then as firmly as you feel is needed. 2 possible teaching idea would be to have a worksheet or sheets guiding students how to use the software for data collected from a particular practical7 it may be data from data logging or not. 2fterwards students may be allowed to use a spreadsheet for data collected without such firm guidance. f you wish to use this software for an assessed practical, then all the points made in the 6uide need to be taken into consideration. 4asically students must make all decisions on the layout, etc of data tables. >ote$ Excel has a very basic default setting therefore students will need to change things to produce an acceptable result. However all the normal IA guidelines apply:

Data collection and processing: aspect 1 The numerical raw data may be presented as a table, or, where a large amount of data has been generated, by graphical means. Students must annotate the data correctly, for example, by means of table or graph titles, columns or graph axes labelled with units, indications of uncertainties, associated qualitati e obser ations, and so on. The number of decimal places used in recorded data should not exceed that expressed by the sensiti ity of the instrument used. !n the case of electronic probes used in data logging, students will be expected to record the sensiti ity of the instrument. Data collection and processing: aspects " and # $se of software for graph drawing is appropriate as long as the student is responsible for most of the decisions, such as:

%hat to graph Selection of quantities for axes

Appropriate units &raph title Appropriate scale 'ow to graph, for example, linear graph line and not scatter.

(ote: A computer)calculated gradient is acceptable. Analysis carried out using calculators or calculations using spreadsheets are acceptable pro ided that the student selects the data to be processed and chooses the method of processing. !n both cases, the student must show one example in the written text. *or example, the student must quote the formula used by or entered into a calculator and define the terms used, or the student must write the formula used in a spreadsheet if it is not a standard part of the program+s menu of functions ,for example, mean, standard de iation-.

+Modified from ?yon workshop &<,