The Common Core State Standard requires students to use appropriate tools when thinking mathematically. Google Spreadsheets can meet this requirement by allowing students to collect, analyze, and report findings with data, which enables students to become better decision makers and problem solvers.
For example, the teacher can ask students to collect data of how many hours they spend on doing homework everyday and find out the average study hours per week or month for the class. The teacher just needs to create a Google Spreads and share it with the class; then assign the students a cell number to enter their data. For elementary level, students can experience elementary algebra in action as they create and use formulas and function tables. For secondary level, patterns, probability experiments and other data can be instantly analyzed with dynamic graphs that adjust automatically as new data is entered. Then students can make predictions and formulate conjectures as they compare theoretical data with real-life data. According to the Common Core State Standards,”Technology plays an important role in statistics and probability by making it possible to generate plots, regression functions, and correlation coefficient, and to simulate many possible outcomes in a short amount of time”. Google Spreadsheets allow students to analyze, predict, and share data that can help mold the understanding of the subject.
When language teachers teach reading scientific and technical texts, they can encourage students to draw or create graphical representations of the data that help students to understand the concepts and context. Students can benefit from expressing the data in their own creative ways. According to the CCSS, “When reading scientific and technical texts, students need to be able to gain knowledge from challenging texts that often make extensive use of elaborate diagrams and data to convey information and illustrate concepts.”
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