Teaching Fundamental Skills in Microsoft Excel to First-Year Students in Quantitative Analysis

Autor/inn/en	Rubin, Samuel J.; Abrams, Binyomin
Titel	Teaching Fundamental Skills in Microsoft Excel to First-Year Students in Quantitative Analysis
Quelle	In: Journal of Chemical Education, 92 (2015) 11, S. 1840-1845Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0021-9584
DOI	10.1021/acs.jchemed.5b00122
Schlagwörter	Forschungsbericht; Statistical Analysis; College Science; Science Instruction; Spreadsheets; Scientific Concepts; Chemistry; Teaching Methods; Student Attitudes; Science Activities; Science Laboratories; Undergraduate Students; Computer Uses in Education; Computer Literacy; Guides; Likert Scales + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Statistische Analyse; Teaching of science; Science education; Natural sciences Lessons; Naturwissenschaftlicher Unterricht; Spread sheet; Spredsheets; Spreadsheet; Tabellenkalkulation; Chemie; Teaching method; Lehrmethode; Unterrichtsmethode; Schülerverhalten; Computernutzung; Computerkenntnisse; Handbuch; Leitfaden; Likert-Skala
Abstract	Despite their technological savvy, most students entering university lack the necessary computer skills to succeed in a quantitative analysis course, in which they are often expected to input, analyze, and plot results of experiments without any previous formal education in Microsoft Excel or similar programs. This lack of formal education results in increased anxiety, students spending large amounts of time using the process of "trial and error" to complete the assignments, and detracts from the students' learning of the chemistry. Microsoft Excel tutorials that were previously introduced have either been not specific to chemistry, require multiple assignments throughout the semester to acquire the necessary skills, or are designed for deprecated versions of the software. In this work, we present an argument for implementing a chemistry-specific, version-agnostic spreadsheet interactive laboratory exercise that uses basic, general chemistry concepts to have students explore and learn the computer skills that are necessary to succeed in a quantitative analysis course. Student feedback data indicate that students felt that the interactive spreadsheet lab allowed them to develop skills that they identified as necessary for success in the course as well as for their future careers. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Division of Chemical Education, Inc and ACS Publications Division of the American Chemical Society. 1155 Sixteenth Street NW, Washington, DC 20036. Tel: 800-227-5558; Tel: 202-872-4600; e-mail: eic@jce.acs.org; Web site: http://pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
Begutachtung	Peer reviewed
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01