Journal 10 YC Extra Credit NETS-T IV & V Use Excel to Teach Patterns

I read and reflected on this article from the ITSE (International Society for Technology in Education) website and also used Citation Machine to cite the journal in APA format.


Seifert, B. (2010). Use Excel to teach patterns. Learning and Leading with Technology, 37(7), Retrieved from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/201005/#pg38

Brice Seifert is an assistant professor at Illinois State University and also loves teaching Kindergarten. He discovered a new and exciting way to teach his students about patterns through the Microsoft Excel application.

As a Kindergarten teacher he acknowledges the importance of having patterned activities for this age group. Learning these concepts at an early age can lead to a stronger foundation for algebraic reasoning in high school and beyond.

Seifert states that most Kindergarten teachers focus on concrete, and pictoral patterns while teaching about them. Through concrete patterning for example, students learn to arrange color blocks in ABC order. Pictoral patterning, they learn to glue multicolored squares on a piece of paper. Symbolic patterning however, includes more abstract teaching through geometric shapes. He wanted to integrate more symbolic patterns for his class, so he created a spreadsheet on Excel that allowed his students to learn this concept.

His spreadsheet met three important criteria:
1. It allowed him to track each student's progress very easily by having an auto date change every day. This was done by typing a simple command in the Header.
2. He could quickly change symbols to provide a variety of worksheets for his students. This was done by simply using the Insert tab to insert shapes.
3. To create unique assessments every time the spread sheet was opened he used the
R AND BETWEEN option that generated random numbers between any two numbers he placed in parenthesis.
By meeting these criteria he found that students were continuously challenged by the different variety. They loved the worksheets and looked forward to seeing their accomplishments from day to day.

The idea of using Excel can be daunting if one is not familiar with the application. However, there are many free tutorials and resources available on the Web. Just like anything else, practice makes perfect! So go for it, try something new, you may just love it!

How can students be a part of this type of learning?
All students, not just Kindergartners can benefit from learning and using spreadsheets in a variety of ways. The idea is to find new and creative ways to use these type of applications for our students. Excel is a tool that allows educators not only to teach but to create exciting assessments.

How can students learn from each other while using this type of application?
Students listen, and for the most part, look up to their peers. They learn a lot from each other everyday. This same concept can be applied by dividing the class into small groups so they may collaborate on either creating or doing a spreadsheet. Older kids could create together while younger kids could do the spreadsheet together, then offer suggestions for improvement for the next assignment.