How do you use spreadsheet or Microsoft Excel in teaching Primary Mathematics?

Introduction.
Children prefer to play rather than to sit down and studying especially when they are at
the kindergarten level. Hence, teachers have to find ways and to develop everyday lesson
to create a suitable environment for the children. Skills such as visualisation are
important especially when they need to study the concept of algebraic and much more. It
was shown that using multiple representations in teaching will result in an increase in
students learning outcomes. Here I will be discussing why teachers should use ICT in
teaching mathematics, (i.e. the use of Microsoft Excel) and also the manual of the Power
Point slides.

Use of ICT in Mathematics

Loveless and Ellis (2001) had cited that Pianfetti and Pianfetti (2000) have shown that
using a combination of digital video, graph and numeric table, help students to visualise
abstract concepts more easily. Thus from their findings, we can try out the three different
types of combination mentioned above and to use software that can challenge students’
thinking and ways of understanding in mathematical concepts. Software such as
Spreadsheet, graphical calculator, Hyperactive studio, PC Logo, Gramatica, Microsoft
PowerPoint and also Microsoft Excel may be used in the teaching of mathematics in
Primary schools.

Mathematics in all primary schools focus on the mastery of numeracy at all levels
because learning about numbers is the basic and the most fundamental mathematical
knowledge. After students have a firm grasp on the numeracy concepts, they can easily
understand other mathematical concepts. However, not all students have the same
cognitive level and as such the use of ICT plays a great role in developing student’s
confidence in learning new mathematic concepts.

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Using Microsoft Excel in teaching mathematics
Some teachers lack skills in using MS Excel and for them, MS Excel are used just to
compute students’ achievement scores. They do not know that MS Excel can also be
used to teach calculation and use of formulae on number operation. There are many
benefits when you are using MS Excel to teach mathematics. Spreadsheets are very
useful when it comes to representing multiple representations of data such as creating a
number sequence from the data, you can present it in the form of pie chart, bar graph
and so much more. Therefore, children can see by themselves the visual representation of
the data. Children can also experience on how to do it by using the personal computer
provided. Here are some of examples of mathematics topics that you can teach by using
the MS Excel.

i) Fun with Spreadsheets starts with Formulae.

This activity is suitable for upper primary level students because it is calculating the
given data using the required operation. They can practice using their previous
knowledge on calculations and doing it practically on the computer.

You can start introducing the following mathematical symbols to the children:
+ (add)
- (subtract)
* (multiply)
/ (divide)
() (brackets are used whenever necessary)

The addition, subtraction, multiplication and division symbols can be found on the right
hand side of the keyboard.

/ * -

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Here is an example of a worksheet for the students to do the following operations.

While the instruction of the students are as follows:

In cell A4, type the formula = A2+A3 and press enter. Answer:_____
In cell C4, type the formula = C2-C3 and press enter. Answer:______
In cell E4, type the formula = E2/E3 and press enter. Answer: ______
In cell G4, type the formula = G2*G3 and press enter. Answer: _____

Once you already instruct the students to enter the formula, you can now change the
contents of the other cells and yet get the right answers. Try to give a different data so
that students can see by themselves that the formulae still work although the values have
changed.
Change cell A2 to 600.
Change cell C2 to 56.
Change cell E2 to 150
Change cell G2 to 20.

Teacher can ask the students to work in pairs so that one of them can create their own
value and ask the other partner to calculate the correct answer using MS Excel. This is to
let them think and at the same time practising how to solve a problem.

ii) Investigating patterns in multiplication table.

In the Upper Primary Mathematics Syllabus, (i.e. Primary 4, topic 10), there is a topic on
“Mathematical Thinking and Problem Solving”. This topic requires students to apply
their thinking skills in solving mathematical question using the patterns recognition and
sequencing. We can use spreadsheets to construct a multiplication table and then assign
few questions regarding the table for the children to interpret the table.

Teacher instructs students to key in the values of multiplication table on the spreadsheet.
At the same time, this activity requires students to recall on their multiplication table.

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Teacher can help the class by checking students’ answers to find out if they have put in
the correct values.

Figure: Spreadsheet of times tables.

When the class are able to produce the same table as shown above, demonstrate to them
on how to produce a graphical representation of the data by highlighting all the data and
then click on the “Insert” icon and click further on the “Chart”. There will be different
types of charts available and you can pick which type of graphs the pupil like. The most
freguent chart use is the ‘Column’ and also the ‘XY (Scatter)’ charts.

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 1200
10 times
1000
9 times
8 times
800
7 times
6 times
600
5 times
4 times
400
3 times
2 times
200
1 times
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Figure: “Column” chart

250

2 times
200
3 times
4 times
150 5 times
6 times
100 7 times
8 times
9 times
50
10 times

0
0 5 10 15 20 25

Figure: “XY (Scatter)” chart.

From the diagrams, students will be able to observe the different patterns as a result from
the data that they have inserted in. The patterns vary with the values and from the
diagram, the teacher can explain to the class that there are at least two relationships that
exist for a graph.

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  The six-times table is twice the three-times table
 The product of the digits in the nine-times table is in increasing
order (18, 27, 36, 45, 54, 63, 72, 81, 90 etc)

One of the benefit of using Spreadsheets to teach patterns and recognition is that you will
be able to spot if there is a problem with the patterns or the data that the students key in.
For example:

Figure: Wrong data for three-time table

160

140

120

100
1 times
80 2 times
3 times
60

40

20

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Figure: ‘Line’ chart

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From the graphical representation of the data, we are able to see that there is a problem in
the pattern. Hence teacher can ask the student to check their table for the mistake.

According to Loveless and Ellis (2001), when the table and the chart has been produced,
it actually provides the graphing abilities as a checking mechanism and also another way
of seeing the relationship between the tables. Therefore when students are able to
construct the charts by inputting the values correctly, he or she can use the graph to check
the calculation. If the values are miscalculated, then a straight line will not result when
they use the graphing function to plot the points.

The Use of Microsoft PowerPoint in teaching

Students not only need to visualise certain concepts but with the help of interactive
material in their learning will enhance and retain more of the knowledge. Here is one of
the educational software i.e., the PowerPoint slides that are made to suit the students
‘learning. Materials needed are personal computer or laptop for the teacher, LCD
projector, Interactive whiteboard (if available and if not, white screen will do) and
personal computers for the students.

This software is for Primary Four, topic 1: Comparing and ordering of numbers. There
will be thee section inside the software: introduction, tutorial and also games. Here are
the manual for using this PowerPoint in your lesson. (Refer to the Booklet inserted).

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