Week 2- Teaching and Learning with Technology (chapters 3 & 7)

1. Provide a URL of one Web site that discusses spreadsheet and/or database use in the classroom.
1. http://futureofmath.misterteacher.com/spreadsheets.html

2. Describe something you found that surprised you about how databases or spreadsheets can be utilized in the classroom.
1. The one thing that really surprised me about how spreadsheets were used in the classroom was the use of spreadsheets to teach mathematics. Call me old fashion but I didn’t realize how much easier it is to teach a child math on a computer using a program such as Microsoft excel than it would be with some of the older counting techniques. As I teacher I think I would teach math with the examples on the board after they mastered it that way I would then take them to the computer lab and show them how to do the same thing using a spreadsheet. I don’t want them to lose anything by showing them the easier way which would be on the computer. I want them to be able to show their skills with or without the use of technology. As an educator I have seen so many students who are dependent on the use of technology such as the calculator to do simple math. I believe that it is a shame that students in high school cannot count without using a machine. I think that sometimes students take the easy way out when it comes to learning that’s the reason why I want to ensure that my students can do anything I teach with or without the use of technology.

3. Discuss how you have used spreadsheets and databases in the past. Include ways you have used them with your students or ways you have used them as an educator.
1. As an educator I have used spreadsheets to show many different lessons, I have never used one in the mathematical setting but I would like to. The most recent one I have done was showing a group of students in a computer class how to go back and enter a spreadsheet document into a word document for a presentation they were doing.  In the past I have had to use spreadsheets and databases at work when I worked for a business office this was to record credits to accounts and to show when the customers had paid their bills. I also have used spreadsheets to show how much money was made and spend during the month in a financial planning class.