Thing 18: Dig the Data

Excel:
Part I:

After opening the ACT Readiness Trend file, and selecting the Met or Exceeded section, I
successfully used Sort to arrange the numbers in the column from smallest to largest.
Part II:

After sorting, I merged the title cell with the top cells to the right of it so that the title would be
centered over cells columns A through L. I then bolded the title and the heading above each column. Next
I used the sigma key to find the sum over the five years of those who met or exceeded and those who did
not meet. Afterward, I found the percentage for those same columns over the five years, using an
equation.
Reflection:
I was glad to have the opportunity to brush up on my Spreadsheet skills. While I am pretty
comfortable with spreadsheet basics, it was helpful to remind myself about formulas and calculations.
Spreadsheets could be helpful for my students to use to help them visualize the similarities and
differences between world governments when studying comparative government. I could also have
students practice using spreadsheets when learning about polling, sampling, and interpreting statistics for
U.S. or Comparative Government. Analyzing data first hand could help them better understand how it is
done on a larger scale.