We use tools to make life easier. The spreadsheet, simply, is a tool, like a calculator or a slide rule. As our children get more and more into computing, I feel very strongly about them learning how to use different computing tools, more than just learning how to insert a CD or surf the Internet. Spreadsheets are about doing math and doing computations. Introducing children to spreadsheets can be, stay with me, a low-key,entertaining way to play with numbers. And this kind of play increases your child's comfort with spreadsheets and math.
The best way to design a spreadsheet is to take something that the children are all interested in and have them design Inquiry based questions and have the students fill out what they want to know; how many people got this, how low with this. etc etc.
For Example:
Here's a nice activity idea I have found to help consolidate children's understanding of basic formulas whilst at the same time teaching them how to use conditional formatting on cells.
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