March 31, 2011: Pop Quiz!

Today in class we are having a Pop Quiz.  Included in this quiz are 3 Parts I will need to do and answer in this blog post. 
     Part 1: I have saved my APA paper from Microsoft Word as a PDF file and uploaded it to GoogleDocs.  I then shared my paper with the professor and set it as public so that anyone can see it. 

• Click here to see my final APA paper using GoogleDocs.

Important things to know about Google Documents

• Save your document as a PDF file
• If you don't, changes will be made to the paper whiole formatting it to GoogleDocs such as charts disappearing, tables being changed, and the paper structure being changed
•  By uploading the paper as a PDF, you can bypass all of these unexpected changes

     Part 2 on our pop quiz is to simply write this blog post.  I have already explained what I learned about uploading to GoogleDocs, and now I will explain about APA formatting.  When you are writing a paper in APA style, you must first begin with stating the question you wish to answer and then explain the question and the tests you have done to come up with your solution.  After you do this, you should include a piece of evidence that shows the test you are doing such as a graph or a pie chart.  After explaining this chart and stating your answer to your previously stated question, you must then include a table and the TTest results proving your answer is correct.
     Part 3 of our test involves using the Jing tool and creating two videos: one demonstating how to install the analysis tool pack in in Microsoft Excel, and the second demonstating how to do a TTest.  My videos are included below.   

• Click here to se how to install the analysis took pack in Excel.
• Click here to see how to perform a TTest in Excel.

After doing a TTest, you need to look at the P(T<=t) two-tail row to determine whether or not there was a significant difference in your objective, in this case it is the difference between pre-test and post-test scores.  To determine the significance you must use this rule, If the answer is aboce 0.5 there is no significant difference, and if the answer is below 0.5 there is a significant difference.  In this test, the answer was well below 0.5, so the result I have came up with is a significant difference in the two test scores.

March 29, 2011: Action Research Paper

During the past few class periods we have been working on our Action Research Project.  Before we started writing our paper, we edited a spreadsheet and found the averages for both the pretest scores and post test scores between gender, male and female, and class distribution, traditional and non-traditional students.  While using this spreadsheet we used many functions including the average function, standard deviation function, ttest function, countif function, and the averageif function as well as basic subtraction addition and division.  After our spreadsheet was finished we created graphs and tables using our data. 

After completing all of the necessary tasks on  the excel spreadsheet, we then because writing our Action Research Paper in APA formatting.  We answered our first question about gender distribution and included a chart and a table to accompany our findings.  We then used the ttest to determine whether there was a significant difference between the scores of males and females.  After answering the first question we then moved on to our second question which was about class distribution and whther there was a difference in traditional and non traditional test scores.  We also included the chart, table and ttest for this test.  Included below is the link to my Action Research Paper which I made public on GoogleDocs.

Here is the link to my Action Reasearch Paper.

March 8,2011: Spreadsheet Activity 3

Today in class we did our third spreadsheet assignment.  We used basic formulas such as addition and division then also used more complex formulas such as COUNTIF and AVERAGEIF.  In this activity we used accumulated data to determine what gender had the greatest improvement and also what type of student(traditional or non-traditional) had the greastest improvement.  We came to the commclusion based on the Pretest and Posttest scores that females and traditional students had the highest Pretest scores, while males and non-traditional students had the highest post-test scores.  This being known, males and non-traditional students had the greatest difference between the Pretest and the Post Test. We also learned how to insert a chart by using data on our spreadsheet and place them on a seperate page.  The charts we made included gender distribution, class distribution, average gender gain, and average class distribution gain.
Certain formulas and functions are not available in google docs so in order to use the document next class, I have mailed the file to myself.

March 3, 2011: Using Spreadsheets, Part 2

In the beginning of class, we all logged on to Diigo and joined a group.  The groups that I joined were Math Links, Cool Tools for Educators, and Classroom 2.0.  All of these groups share resources to use in the classroom.
Today we used Microsoft Excel to do our second spreadsheet practice.  In this spreadsheet we used formulas and functions to solve for the average grade, turn the numeric grade into a letter grade, find the number of each letter grade, and find the min, max, range, and average grade of each individual assignment.  We started out by using the MIN, MAX, and AVERAGE function to determine the lowest grade, highest grade, and the average percentage of each assignment.  We then subtracted the minimum value from the maximum value to determine the range of the scores.  After that, we used a weighted equation to determine the average grade for each student.  We learned how to use the IF function to come up with a formula to convert the percentage grades into letter grades.  After we found all grades pertaining to the assignment, we calculated the number of each letter grade by using the COUNTIF function.  Finally, we highlighted the area on the spreadsheet that was used and changed the background color then used the border tool to create a border around each cell used.  After the assignment was completed, I uploaded my document to Google Docs and published it to the web.  I have included my link below.
Spreadsheet Assignment # 2 

March 1, 2011: Using Spreadsheets

Today in class we reviewed our assignment from the previous class and compared good examples to not so good examples.  We then started our assignment for the day which we are completing using Microsoft Excel.  During this assignment we learned how to enter formulas into a spreadsheet and find the average of a series of numbers.  We then learned how to make a new spreadsheet and find the semester average using a formula that included numbers from our three term spreadsheets.  After we found the semester average on our new spreadsheet, we sorted the names and grades from highest semester grade, to lowest semester grade.  Other tools we used during this assignment were the handle tool, copy & paste, and renaming spreadsheets.  After the assignment was completed, I uploaded my finished assignment to Google Docs and included the link to my published document below. 
Spreadsheet 1: Grades 1