T-Test: Excel

Summary

T-tests can be extremely helpful in the world of educational research. There are two types of t-tests, independent t-tests and dependent t-tests. The former is used when comparing a difference between two groups given two continuous and categorical variables. The latter is used when comparing the same group on two separate occasions; it is used to determine whether a change has occurred or there is a difference for the group from the one occasion to the next. For example, I took the same data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) that I used previously (2011 reading scores for boys and girls in the fourth grade) and conducted an independent t-test. The categorical independent variable was gender and the continuous dependent variable is the fourth grade. When conducting a t-test, one will either conclude that there is no significant statistical difference (the p value is less than .05), in other words, the null hypothesis is accepted or one will conclude that there is a statistically significant difference (the p value is greater than .05), in other words, the null hypothesis is rejected. By looking through this site I was better able to understand both types of t-tests.

What I Did

            I had previously exported the data I wanted from the NCES into Excel and accessed the Analysis ToolPak add-in. Below are the steps I took to conduct the t-test analysis.

1.      Chose Data from toolbar

2.      Scrolled down to choose T-test: Two Sample Assuming Equal Variances

3.      Filled in Variable 1 Range by clicking and dragging the cursor to select all scores earned by males (same for Variable 2 Range for females)

4.      Titled the new sheet by filling in New Worksheet Ply section

The t-test analysis opened in a new sheet.

If you don’t have Excel, you can still analyze your data in a t-test by using this free online t-test calculator.

What I Learned

Research Question: Does student’s gender impact 4^th grade reading performance?

Hypotheses:

·         Null Hypothesis- There is no statistical difference between the fourth grade readings scores earned by males and females. Gender does not impact fourth grade reading performance.

·         There is a statistical difference between the fourth grade reading scores earned by males and females. Gender does impact fourth grade reading performance.

Critical P-level (alpha): P=0.05

 

Decision rule: Reject null hypothesis since 1-tail p value > 0.05

 

Summary Statement: Reject null hypothesis, 1.611E-07 (tail p value) <= 0.05

 

Statement of Results: There is a statistically significant difference between the 2011 fourth grade reading scores earned by males and females. Gender does impact fourth grade reading performance.

Research Topic for Students Using a T-Test

            Gathering data and analyzing data for a t-test is a fairly straight forward and simple process. However, I do not believe that I would have elementary or middle school students engage in research using a t-test as the concept behind such statistical analysis is complex for children at the elementary and middle school mathematical achievement levels. However, I believe this type of research could be fun and informative for students at the high school level. For a fun, science experiment using a t-test, I might give students the following research topic.

Research Question: Does preservation method (to be determined by students) impact the life span of a carved pumpkin?

Suggested Design: Each student is given a pumpkin (granted that there is an even number of students). Each pumpkin must be similar in weight, shape, and size. Students will carve their pumpkins, creating two eyes, a nose, and a mouth. Half of the students, randomly selected, will use a particular preservation method (ex. acrylic spray) and the other students will use an alternative method (ex. pumpkin fresh spray). Students will observe their own pumpkin every day. Once the pumpkin matches this description the, profuse mold and rot (more than one student will confirm), the pumpkin will be considered deceased and the student will plug into a classroom Excel document, how many days the pumpkin lasted since its carving. The Excel document will have two columns labeled by preservation method. The students will each practice using the t-test function in Excel and the class will discuss the findings. Throughout the process, each student will maintain notes and complete a lab report.

Dependent, Continuous Variable: Life Span of Carved Pumpkins

 

Independent, Categorical Variable: Preservation Method

 

Hypotheses:

·         Null Hypothesis- There is no statistically significant difference between the numbers of days the pumpkins lasted before being confirmed deceased due to profuse mold and rot. Preservation method does not impact the life span of a carved pumpkin.  

·         There is a statistically significant difference between the numbers of days the pumpkins lasted before being confirmed deceased due to profuse mold and rot. Preservation method does impact the life span of a carved pumpkin.

 

Ideas for preservation methods can be found on this site.

Standards Reflection

Conducting educational research using digital age tools towards a goal of evaluating and reflecting upon teaching practices in order to better support student learning meets standard Five "c" of the ISTE-NETS-T’s standards.

Adapting educational experiences by incorporating student use of digital applications such as Excel meets standard two of the ISTE-NETS-T’s standards and its components.

Google Form: Google Drive

Summary

The user of Google Form creates this product with the intention to gather qualitative or quantitative data. While there are applications that allow users to gather such data through surveys, such as Survey Monkey, Google Forms can be used for an extra special purpose; a Google Form could be a survey or an online quiz.

Google Forms are best seen not described as they have two faces. Once a user has completed their form, it becomes available for public use as a website. However, the form’s creator continues to use the form through the use of a Google Spreadsheet. The individual taking the survey or quiz sees an arrangement of various question types on a themed background. They may be asked to go through one or more pages of questions. Once their answers are submitted, the creator can view responses in a spreadsheet without doing any of the work to organize the information. As Google Spreadsheet allows the user to employ formulas for easy analysis, Google Forms can be used as an efficient classroom resource.

How I Would Use It

Here is a list of simple ways I might use Google Forms in my classroom.

·         Attitude survey before starting a unit of study

·         Field trip survey (ask students about their learning and experiences to determine whether the trip was worthwhile)

·         Students create their own quiz at the end of a unit

·         Anonymous mid-term or end of year survey

·         Self-assessment form

·         Survey answers can give direction for class discussion

·         Survey students about a sensitive lesson topic (students do not need to be put on the spot; teacher can explain general student thoughts and feelings)

·         Grade student presentations in the moment

Google forms for professional development.

·         Departmental surveys

·         Survey answers can give direction to teacher or school wide meetings

·         Survey students for action research

I found a Google Presentation called “81 Interesting Ways to Use Google Forms in the Classroom” and like the following ideas.

·         Students survey other classes and graph results

·         Create a Woordle based on qualitative responses

·         Create a class story by collecting ideas for plot, character, setting, etc.

·         Entrance and exit tickets

·         Keep track of discipline referrals 

What I Did

            There are two ways to go about creating a Google Form. In Google Drive you can either create a form as with a document, presentation, etc. or you can open a Google Spreadsheet and choose “Form” from a drop down list from the tool bar. Either way, you will be served a simple page that gets you started by accomplishing three tasks. First, add a title. Next, add a description. Finally, create your first question. There are seven question types: text, paragraph text, multiple choice, checkboxes, choose from a list, scale, and grid. At first, I didn’t understand what some of these choices meant. I checked out a YouTube video of a Screencast which described each.

            I created my Google Form to be a getting to know you survey. I would put this or a similar form on my classroom website, hoping students would take the time to answer some questions about themselves, their family, and their favorite things. I found uses for each question type. I was pleasantly surprised to learn, while playing with the question types, that depending up the respondents answer to a multiple choice question, the user can set the respondent on a unique questioning track. For instance, for my survey, I am having students tell me which season is their favorite. If they respond that winter is their favorite season, they will be sent to a new page with questions specifically about winter. Therefore, I can ensure that respondents do not become confused or waste their time with unnecessary questions.

            When I was finished creating my form, I was able to share it as a website, I was able to embed it in my blog, I could embed it in a website, or I could email it.

Take my survey!

 
This is what my survey results look like.

What I Learned

            I had absolutely no idea that Google offered such a useful feature. What’s more, if I had noticed the option to create a form, I don’t think I would have understood its purpose or ventured to use it. I’m glad to know about it now, as I’m sure it will come in handy in the very near future.

Standards Reflection

Teachers who ask their students, their students’ parents, and their colleagues to respond to a Google form, there are meeting standard 3 “b” of the  ISTE-NETS-T’s standards. The teacher and respondents are collaborating to poll data using an online resource. Of course, data is ineffective unless something is done with it. The teacher who collects and analyzes the data is ensuring that the data will be used to inform classroom practices that will ultimately support students’ success.

Teachers who engage in action research may find Google Forms to be an asset to their work. Using this tool for such an endeavor would help them to meet standard 3 “d” ISTE-NETS-T’s standards. The standard calls for teachers to locate, analyze, and evaluate information resources using digital tools. Google forms allow teachers to locate, analyze, and evaluate authentic information. Overall, the outcome is the same, teachers are collecting research that allows them to use research for their personal development, to support research in their field, and to support learning in their classrooms.

Google Forms Part 1

Google Drive has an option for creating forms. Forms make it easy for surveying or quizzing students. I just made a Google Form survey to give students before they join me in our classroom for the new school year. If I could get students to fill out and submit this form, I would be able to learn about them as individuals and about their backgrounds so as to make them more comfortable during the first weeks of school and to better differentiate my lessons and other class experiences. To view my Google Form, click on the link above or check out the new page I created specifically to hold the awesomeness that is my Google Form.

PowerPoint and Dropbox

Summary

Part One

This week, I was required to do something I have done a million times before and yet I can also say that this week I have tried and learned about more things than I have in previous weeks. I remember when, just a few years ago, being able to create a PowerPoint made you the cool kid in class. But, with the rate of technology, presenting a PowerPoint in class is likely to make you the boring, unimaginative one. I have to admit though, I find well done PowerPoints to be an efficient and effective educational tool along with other presentation mediums and I use them all the time. I have not yet felt prepared to move on from this technological tool. In defense, I do always try to use new designs that will catch my students’ attention and serve as visual tools to help them remember the most essential content. This week, the assignment was to create a PowerPoint. I took this opportunity to explore features of PowerPoint that I have never used before or have not fully experimented with.

Part Two

Whenever I take my PowerPoints to school, I email them to myself and put them on my flash drive because I can’t bring my laptop (which I use to create my PowerPoints). This is not always an easy and safe procedure. There have been occasions when I have not had access to my email account or when the file didn’t save or send properly. Dropbox, a cloud application, may just solve all of my problems. Dropbox can be downloaded to your computer and is available online by registering. By dragging and dropping a file into a Dropbox folder within My Computer. By doing so, the file magically appears within a personal Dropbox account folder online. The file can then be shared with others, no emailing required!

What I Did

I created a PowerPoint that is drastically different from any other I have made. I recently learned that when movement is involved in educational presentations, students are better able to remember content, and therefore, I added animations to my PowerPoint. I also included sound effects that will hopefully bring life to the lesson. I limited my use of informational text as much as possible (which is not my strong suit, clearly), I synthesized shapes and background styles to create slides with unique backgrounds, and I added a video. My PowerPoint corresponds to standard 5.6 and 5.7 of the Virginia Standards of Learning as it is a review of the seafloor with connections to erosion and weathering; it will hopefully keep any fifth grader’s attention and interest.

            I made my PowerPoint available for viewing by putting it in Dropbox and copying and pasting the link proved within my blog.

What I Learned

            This time I’m going to have to turn this section into a list. Get ready, it’s long…   

PowerPoint Related

·         How to animate text

·         In a given order

·         one or more sections of text at a time

·         How to add sound effects

·         How to change the color of a background style

·         How to use shapes in different ways

·         How to set a photo within a shape

·         How to change the width and height of beveling effects

Dropbox Related

·         Dropbox is simple to use

·         Dropbox can be used for personal purposes or to share files

·         The size of the file doesn’t matter

·         Files can be drag and dropped, they do not need to be uploaded.

How I Would Use It

            Both teachers and students can use PowerPoint to present information. I like to use PowerPoint to include written directions in lessons that can be easily referenced throughout a lesson, to have easy access to videos for lessons, and supply information in a visual format (as opposed to an unaccompanied lecture) for students with a visual learning style. Asking students to create PowerPoints, allows them to choose information to present that they think is most important and interesting through while tapping into their creativity through design.

Standards Reflection

            As PowerPoint is a digital tool that incites creative and critical thought in its user, in order to present relevant information to reach individuals with multimodal learning styles, I believe that the use of PowerPoint in the classroom meets all of ISTE-NETS-T’s standards and the majority of their components.

            When teachers use Dropbox to share files, they are collaborating to communicate ideas in a way that promotes efficiency in the workplace and therefore, they meet standard three of the ISTE-NETS-T’s standards.

Batchgeo Part 1: Google Docs

Summary

            Google maps are not just for finding directions! Batchgeo  allows users to create a web based Google map that indicates essential information about a location once the location information is plugged into a spreadsheet and copy and pasted onto the website. The application works by identifying addresses, intersections, cities, states, and postal codes. A Google map is served with tags that identify places around the world. Viewers can zoom in and out and click on the tags for additional information just as if using Google Maps.

To view my blog post about Google Docs, click here.

What I Did

When creating a Batchgeo map, first and foremost, it is necessary to create a spreadsheet. This can be done either using Microsoft Excel or Google Docs Spreadsheet. For this assignment, my colleagues and I are collaborating to synchronously (in real time) create a Google Doc Spreadsheet within which we are sharing our home addresses (including house numbers, street names, towns, states, and zip codes) and our email addresses. As we each input our data, Google Docs will automatically save the document, storing all necessary information for later retrieval. Once all data are input into the spreadsheet, we will be able to independently engage in Part 2—accessing Batchgeo, creating a personalized map, sharing it publicly online, creating a hyperlink to the map’s Batchgeo URL, and embedding our maps in our blogs.

For privacy reasons, I will not be including a link to the class spreadsheet.

What I Learned

            I have used Google Maps for two main purposes, 1) to get directions and 2) to identify places of interest in a location I am planning to visit. Once I zoom into a city or town, symbols for theaters, restaurants, schools, etc. appear. If I am trying to identify a place to meet a friend for dinner in a location I’m not familiar with, for instance, I will scroll my mouse overtop of the restaurant symbols to access information about the street address and I may even be able to see pictures, reviews, and restaurants’ URLs. I had no idea that an individual or company could create a customized map with similar options. Since I am already familiar with using such features on Google Maps, using a map created with Batchgeo should be easy.

How I Would Use It

In the elementary classroom, Google Docs may be used for such things as sign-up sheets (computer use during indoor recess, group projects, etc.). Additionally, teaching productivity may be enhanced in elementary schools using Google Docs when applications are used to collaboratively create and share lesson plans, notes about student performance for team teachers, presentations for shared unit plans and lessons, administrative sign-up sheets (bus duty, kitchen duty, etc.), parent sign-up sheets (parent volunteers, supply list, etc.)

 

Standards Reflection

The use of Google Docs as a teaching professional best corresponds with the ISTE-NETS-T standard three and its components. I believe that Google Docs can most thoroughly be used to enhance a teacher’s professional abilities. Working with colleagues and parents in the school community through Google Docs allows for the sharing of resources and knowledge, a demonstration of collaboration and the ability to communicate ideas. Any teacher who is able to make use of Google Docs and does so proficiently, proves themselves to be engaged in professional advancement in the field of digital technology and able to contribute productivity to a large community and so, successfully meets aspects of standard three.

When teachers share Google Docs with their students, for the purposes of collecting, organizing, or synthesizing information, they are working within virtual environment to construct collective knowledge on a subject, corresponding with standard two, “a.” This is unique to the traditional school learning experience in which students are expected to absorb the information they are given for synthesis into their own understanding of the world, taking critical thinking and team collaboration to a whole new level.

Résumé: Google Docs

Creating New Documents: Examples

I began using Google Docs for the first time last year (my senior year of college). Over the past year, I have been led to discover the versatility of this tool. At first, I used this feature with classmates to create papers for group assignments. Recently, I have used Google Docs with friends to organize potlucks and with professors to sign-up for presentation times and topics. Additionally, while working closely with an English for International Students teacher at a private high school, I saw her using Google Docs to monitor students’ work and provide editing suggestions during in-progress assignments. So far, this tool has proven useful to me in school, in my personal life, and in my professional field and I’m sure there are many more ways it could be used that I haven’t even thought of yet!

Potential uses for Google Docs

            In the elementary classroom, Google Docs may be used for such things as sign-up sheets (computer use during indoor recess, group projects, etc.). Additionally, teaching productivity may be enhanced in elementary schools using Google Docs when applications are used to collaboratively create and share lesson plans, notes about student performance for team teachers, presentations for shared unit plans and lessons, administrative sign-up sheets (bus duty, kitchen duty, etc.), parent sign-up sheets (parent volunteers, supply list, etc.)

 

How I Uploaded my Résumé

I am most familiar with the ability Google Docs provides to create a word document and work collaboratively on the document with one or more people at the same time. However, just a few weeks ago, I discovered that documents could also be uploaded to Google Docs to allow for collaboration on previously developed documents, spreadsheets, etc. In completing the Google Docs Résumé assignment, I uploaded a PDF for the first time. I originally created my résumé in a Word document. To protect my privacy, I covered my addresses and phone numbers. In addition, to protect the file from being altered, I converted it to a PDF. While uploading the file I was prompted as to whether I wanted to change the file format; I simply made sure to uncheck the boxes in the prompted to keep the original format.

Before publishing the document, I was nervous about making it public. I was relieved to learn that Google provides options regarding who you want to share your document with. I was able to limit the viewing of my résumé to people at SU, allowing them to find and access the document. However, I could have refined the options further to say that I wanted only people at SU with a link to be able to view it. Therefore, while working in my school’s Gmail account, I will be able to limit my viewers to individuals in my network. If you are in the SU network, click here to view my résumé.

Learning Outcome

            To answer the question, “What advantages and disadvantages does cloud computing with Google have over traditional desktop applications?” it was necessary for me to learn what cloud computing is. Through some quick glances at various websites, I have found out that cloud computing enables people to make use of various applications through the use of the internet, without accessing the applications on their personal computers. That is, applications are hosted by cloud computing resources using networks of remote servers. In theory, I would not need to have Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, etc. installed on my computer in order to make use of these application’s features as Google provides Google Docs were these files can be created, stored, and managed. For instance, cloud computing seems are very practical for businesses and institutions. A school administrator may choose to have teachers and students use a cloud computing resource instead of spending money to furnish each individual computer with a software package.

Question

Question: “What advantages and disadvantages does cloud computing with Google have over traditional desktop applications?”

Advantages: 1) Google applications are free, 2) projects sharing either publicly or with select people without the use of email or flash drives, 3) collaborative and simultaneous creation of projects, and 4) projects are safe in case of computer crash

Disadvantages: 1) projects not accessible without internet access, 2) publishing online is never entirely private, and 3) projects can be altered by colleagues our yourself in undesirable ways (no previous versions available)

Standards Reflection

I believe that this activity and the use of Google Docs as a professional best corresponds with the ISTE-NETS-T Standard three and its components. I believe that Google Docs can most thoroughly be used to enhance a teacher’s professional abilities. I believe that if one used Google Docs in their school community in the ways I suggested above, in regards to teaching productivity, they would be engaging in processes that would meet each of the components of this standard. Cloud computing is an emerging technology. By using a cloud computing resource such as Google Docs, teachers demonstrate an ability to adapt with the times and learn the newest technologies before and alongside their technology savvy students. Working with teachers and parents in the school community through Google docs allows for the sharing of resources and knowledge, a demonstration of collaboration and the ability to communicate ideas. Any teacher who is able to make use of Google Docs and does so proficiently, proves themselves to be engaged in professional advancement in the field of digital technology and able to contribute productivity to a large community and so, successfully meets aspects of standard three.