The development and application of a simulator designed with Excel spreadsheets to teach procedural skills in atomic absorption spectrometry and atomic emission spectrometry are proposed. For the development of the simulator, different analytical procedures were followed including analysis of pharmaceutical, forensic, and environmental samples.…

For years, researchers have recognized the expectation within the business community that business school graduates possess a working knowledge of spreadsheet applications. Academics continue to seek effective ways to teach these skills in an academic setting. This exercise uses Wordle, a five-letter word guessing game, to teach students…

The Birthday Paradox problem can be investigated either with a carefully constructed spreadsheet (for greatest precision) or a calculator process (for reasonable precision). A number of ways of approaching this problem as a class activity are provided.

A spreadsheet-based exercise for students is described in which they are challenged to explain and reproduce the disparate temperature dependencies of the heat capacities of gaseous F[subscript 2] and N[subscript 2]. For F[subscript 2], C[subscript p,m] increases from 300 K, reaches a maximum at 2200 K, and then decreases to 74% of the maximum…

This article provides two activities, exploring genetic drift of small breeding populations, highlighting the black-footed ferret ("Mustela nigripes"). According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service, all black-footed ferrets are descended from 18 individuals, making them extremely vulnerable to genetic drift. They were thought to be…

Students' procedural knowledge and conceptual understanding of matrices can improve when they use technology, in particular spreadsheets, as a tool. Complex real-world applications of matrix calculations are time-consuming and prone to errors if done by hand, yet calculations can be performed easily with spreadsheets. In this article, the author…

Data literacy is a growing area of focus across multiple disciplines in higher education. The dominant forms of introduction focus on computational toolchains and statistical ways of knowing. As data driven decision-making becomes more central to democratic processes, a larger group of learners must be engaged in order to ensure they have a seat…

Finite Mathematics has become an enormously rich and productive area of contemporary mathematical biology. Fortunately, educators have developed educational modules based upon many of the models that have used Finite Mathematics in mathematical biology research. A sufficient variety of computer modules that employ graph theory (phylogenetic trees,…

GRANTISM (GReenland and ANTarctic Ice Sheet Model) is an educational Excel™ model introduced by Pattyn (2006). Here, GRANTISM is amended to simulate the Svalbard-Barents-Sea Ice Sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum, an analogue for the contemporary West Antarctic Ice Sheet. A new name, "GRANTSISM," is suggested; the added S represents…

This article draws on some ideas explored during and after a writing workshop to develop classroom resources for the reSolve: Mathematics by Inquiry (www.resolve.edu.au) project. The project develops classroom and professional learning resources that will promote a spirit of inquiry in school mathematics from Foundation to year ten. The…

A fun activity is presented using singing wine glasses for introductory physics students. Students tune a white wine glass and a red wine glass to as many semitones as possible by filling the glasses with the appropriate amounts of water. A smart phone app is used to measure the frequencies of equal-temperament tones. Then plots of frequency…

With so many role-playing simulations already in the political science education literature, the recent repeated calls for new games is both timely and appropriate. This article answers and extends those calls by advocating the creation of probabilistic games using Microsoft Excel. I introduce the example of the Stag Hunt Game--a short, effective,…

In the 21st century, the competence of instructional technological design is important for pre-service physics teachers. This case study described the pre-service physics teachers' design of optical spreadsheet simulation and evaluated teaching and learning the task in the classroom. The case study chose three of thirty pre-service teacher's…

This article offers a description of how empirical experiences through the use of procedural knowledge can serve as the stage for the development of hypothetical concepts using the learning cycle, an inquiry teaching and learning method with a long history in science education. The learning cycle brings a unique epistemology by way of using…

This study reports on the effect of student engagement in digital learning activities on academic performance for 120 students enrolled in an undergraduate finance course. Interactive practice and exam problem files were available to each student, and individual download activity was automatically recorded during the first 50 days of the course.…