Using Microsoft Works to create a spreadsheet:

Students will be expected to work independently during the science activities. In order to do this, lessons will have to be provided for students who are unfamiliar with the equipment which has been suggested. For instance, The instructions below are for creating a worksheet for students to use. The teacher may create the worksheet they want students to use in the classroom. However, students will be expected to enter their own information. Therefore, that is a skill which must be address prior to to the culminating activity.

In order for your students to be able to go to the computer and produce a graph, a class activity in the computer lab may be needed prior to doing the group work.

Open Microsoft Works 4.0

Choose Spreadsheet by double clicking or click "New"

You will get a page with grids on it.

Go to file and "Show header."

Type worksheet and/or the name of the activity. Click in the body of the spreadsheet to go back to the grids.

Go to Edit and select all. Choose a font and a larger size than the default. This will make the grid boxes larger. You may also go to Format - font and style to change colors, underline, etc.

In the first grid, type the type of material, times, colors, etc. being used for the activity.

Press return after each entry until all materials have been entered.

Across the top, type the temperatures, measurement, etc. that have been recorded during the student activity.

Go to file and "Save as" and name the spreadsheet according to the activity that is taking place.

Go to Options and choose make a graph. You will then get a dialog box that allows you to choose different types of graphs. You may have to use the tool box to add the names of all items.

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Using an Alpha-Smart Pro

Turn on the Alpha-Smart Pro. You may plug it into an outlet or you may choose to use a battery. It has rechargeable batteries or you may choose to use AAA batteries.

Turn the machine on.

Press F1 to open a new file. Students may begin typing their assignment.

When they have finished, they should do a spell check.

After they have made corrections to the spelling, they may bring it to you right away to download it into the computer, or they may wait until a later time. Even if they turn off the Alpha-Smart Pro, the document they typed will remain in the machine as F1 until you clear the files.

When taking it to the computer, there should be a Y cable already attached to the keyboard(Mac) or to the back(PC). Open a word processing program and have a new file open. It can be in Simpletext, Microsoft Works, Microsoft Word, Appleworks, etc. Plug into the appropriate port and press send. The file will appear on the desktop. The computer will read the document back to the child. He can tell right away if he has made mistakes if it "sounds funny."

Save the file with an identifying name on a folder on the computer. It can be brought up later to make changes and/or import images.

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