Introduction

This lesson will recap vocabulary, revisit sorting and introduce the idea of creating charts from data in a table.  The charts can then be used to check for errors or unexpected results or to answer questions.

It would be useful to show the Teacher’s presentation and the Demonstration Spreadsheet at the same time on the board.  Use the Chrome option in ‘Window’ to tile both windows (full instructions can be found in lesson 3).

Open ‘Demonstration spreadsheet’ ‘Lund’ tab.  Show the class the table and explain that it shows weather statistics for the city of Lund in Sweden.

 

 

Recap how to sort the data then try sorting using the following criteria

• sort by Average Highest temperature lowest to highest
• sort again Average rainfall highest to lowest
• ask the children for another sort criteria
• Can the class suggest two other sort criteria?

 

Adding charts to spreadsheets

Show the chart on slide 66.  Explain that this chart was created in Google Sheets using the information in the table about Lund.

 

 

Demonstrate how to make a chart that shows the average lowest temperature (column D data):

 

1. Working in the ‘Demonstration spreadsheet’ ‘Lund’ tab.

2. Select ‘Insert’ then ‘Chart’ from the menu bar.

 

 

3. A blank chart area will appear on your spreadsheet and the chart editor will appear on the right hand side of the screen.

4. Click the grid ‘Data range’ option (it looks like a window).

 

5. When the ‘Select data range’ window appears use your mouse to highlight the column that you want to add to your chart.

E.g. B1:B13

This will display all the months.

 

 

6. Click ‘Add another range’.

 

 

7.  Highlight the column that you want to add to your chart.

E.g. D1:D13

This will display the lowest temperatures.

 

 

8. Click ‘OK’ the chart will appear in your spreadsheet.

 

 

The following video demonstration of this is included in the teacher presentation. 

 

 

Main tasks

Ask the children to open the Activity sheet and the spreadsheet they created in week 1.

Allow the children some time to create their own chart.  Each chart produced should have columns that get larger in regular steps but as the pupils all picked their own number the charts won’t all be the same.

 

Show the class the charts on slide 68 and 69.  These are charts from the ‘tricky times tables’ where the number being multiples was 6.765.

Ask the children: Do you notice anything about the charts? Encourage them to explain their answers in terms of data in columns or cell references.

e.g.

• The data in the spreadsheet has been changed in cell H2,
• This was changed from 2 to 10,
• The calculation being carried out has changed from 2 x 6.765 to 10 X 6.765.
• The data in the spreadsheet has been changed in cell I11,
  • 6.765 was changed to a much bigger number so that the product was bigger,
  • The calculation being carried out has changed to 11 x 24.

 

Ask the children to change some of the data in columns H and I.  Is the answer immediately obvious in column J?  Or does the chart give us a better view of anomalies (unusual results)?

 

Now show the class the tab labelled ‘Sports Day’ and explain that all the teachers in a school took part in a teachers’ sports day and these are the results from the 1500m race.  Explain that the spreadsheet is full of information that can be used to answer the questions. 

 

 

The children will need to use all of the skills so far that they have learned in the previous weeks. 

Use the tabs in ‘Demonstration spreadsheet activities’ that have been used in the previous weeks to model how the children could find answers, practice writing formulae or create charts if more practice or explanation is needed.

 

Plenary

The answers to ‘Sports Day’ are shown in the next tab ‘Sports Day ANSWERS’.  Take feedback from the class as you work through the solutions with the class.

To finish, recap the use of spreadsheets for wide ranges of jobs. Assess the children's progress against the lesson objectives with the following questions:

• Why might we add a chart to a spreadsheet?
• What advantages can using a chart over raw data have when analysing a set of data?