1. Interactive Excel Spreadsheets: A Computational and Conceptual Learning Tool for Mathematics and Science Scott A. Sinex Department of Physical Sciences and Engineering Prince George’s Community College Presented at the Computation and Science for Teachers Workshop held at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, Pittsburgh, PA on 19-23 June 2006

2. Why Excel? Ready off-the-shelf software Found in the work-place Found on home computers too Easy to use by students Can it be an interactive learning tool? (no marcos or VBA programming, just computation via formulas)

3. ...as a tool in math and science Great for handling, graphing, and analyzing data Easy transforming of data such as taking the log Regression and goodness-of-fit So a great tool for mathematical modeling of data and presenting graphs Using Excel for... Scientific Data Pre-set calculations & graphs – just add data

4. … a mathematical model Cookies stack

5. The modeling process…

6. ...so now to Excelets! Excelets are interactive Excel spreadsheets A “Javaless” applet! A simulation of a mathematical model or an illustration of a simple concept A tool for higher-order thinking and illustrating science process and a tool that is easy to construct!!!!!

7. So let’s take a tour of the interactive features available in Excel Start tour ! Click on links at the bottom of the next five slides to get the interactive spreadsheets

8. Interactive features

9. Flipping pennies heads tails

10. Regression Find it in

11. Derivative

12. Circuits Created by Charlotte Trout

13. Now let’s construct a simple Excelet! So let’s go into Excel We will explore the equation of a straight line, y = mx +b. Tutorial for a quadratic equation – click hereclick here

14. As a learning tool... Active engagement of students Numerical experimentation Derive the ideal mathematical model “What if” scenarios Science processes –predictions –graphical interpretation –conclusions –random and systematic error (ideal to real) See Investigating Types of ErrorsInvestigating Types of Errors Model Simulation science excelets

15. The “How to” resources... Developer's Guide to Excelets: Dynamic and Interactive Visualization with "Javaless" Applets or Interactive Excel Spreadsheets Tutorial, instructions, and a variety of interactive Excel spreadsheet examples Resource list for mathematics and science

16. More info... Scott Sinex – ssinex@pgcc.edussinex@pgcc.edu See course webpages and publications http://academic.pgcc.edu/~ssinex http://academic.pgcc.edu/~ssinex Webpages embedded in PowerPoint – get LiveWeb (http://skp.mvps.org/liveweb.htm)http://skp.mvps.org/liveweb.htm