Computer Skills Curriculum
Spreadsheet Lesson Plan
Title: Count the Calories
 Other
Curriculum Objectives that can be addressed by this lesson plan
English Language Arts: 2.1, 2.3, 4.1; Mathematics: (Gr
7) 1.1, 1.2, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 6.4; Computer Skills: (Gr. 7) 3.2
Grade: 7
Competency 3.2: Enter and edit data into a prepared spreadsheet to
test simple "What if?" statements.
Measure 3.2.2: Given a prepared spreadsheet of activities (e.g.,
running, swimming, walking) and their caloric expenditure, enter time
segments for four activities sufficient to burn a total of n calories.
Materials Needed: An empty food box or wrapper, that has the number
of calories per serving printed on the box, for each student; one or more
computers in the classroom with the Calories prepared spreadsheet file loaded
or access to a computer lab with the Calories file loaded on each computer;
the Exercise/Calories
black-line master (see below); handout for each student of the Exercise/Calories
Activity black-line master (see below).
Time: One or two class sessions.
Terms: Columns, Rows, Cells, Labels, Values, Formulas
Activities
Pre-Activities:
- Review spreadsheet
concepts and terms.
- Show the class some
examples of printed nutritional information on food containers. Ask them
to identify what they would do to determine the amount of a particular
nutrient if they had two servings? Three servings? 5 1/2 servings?
- Ask students to
describe the benefits of having the nutritional information in a
spreadsheet. Remind the class that spreadsheets help solve this type of
"what if" question by making the calculations very quickly so
the problem solver can try different values easily and quickly.
- Have the students, in pairs, examine the food boxes and wrappers for the
activity in order to locate the calorie count for each serving.
Activity:
Note: The day before, ask each student to bring in a wrapper or box for
some food item that has the number of calories per serving printed on the
wrapper or box.
- Explain to the class
that they are going to use a computer spreadsheet to discover how
different activities burn calories. Project a transparency of the
Exercise/Calories blackline master. Also hand
out copies of the Exercise/Calories Activity to each member of the
class.
- Pointing to the
transparency, describe each of the sections of the spreadsheet: where
they will enter a weight value (since a person's weight helps determine
how many calories are burned by various activities), where they will
enter the amount of time spent on different activities, and where they
will see the number of calories that are burned by the activities.
- Have a member of the
class come to one of the computers to act as the operator and explain
that the operator will be keying the values that the class tells him/her
in order to solve the first two problems on their sheet.
- Call on a student in
class to provide a weight value. The operator should move the selector
to the cell for entering the weight. This will be cell C2. Have the
operator explain to the rest of the class how he/she is moving the
selector and entering the information. The operator may need some
assistance in doing this.
- Ask a member of the
class to read the first question.
If you jog for 30 minutes, how many calories
would you burn?
Ask the class if anyone can tell how they would
use the computer spreadsheet to solve this problem. An appropriate answer
would be to enter the number 30 to the right of "Jogging:" in cell
C10. The answer will appear in the same row but in the column titled Number
of Calories and in cell F17 at the bottom right hand side of the screen by
Total Number of Calories:..
- Ask a member of the
class to read the next question.
If you spent an additional hour throwing frisbee, how many calories would you burn?
Ask the class if anyone can tell how they would
use the computer spreadsheet to solve this problem. An appropriate answer
would be to enter the number 60 to the right of "Playing Fresbee:" in cell C12. The answer will appear in the
same row but in the column titled Number of Calories and at the bottom right
hand side of the screen by Total Number of Calories:..
- 7. If you have a
limited number of computers, collect the food boxes and wrappers and
place them at the computer(s). If the class is using a computer lab,
then they should keep their boxes and wrappers with them.
- Explain that for the next
6 questions, they should use a different food item box or wrapper for
each question. If they are working at a computer lab, students should
swap boxes/wrappers with their neighbor to answer each question. Explain
that after finding each answer, they should write an explanation of how
they solved the problem. For example, "My food item was Fritos
which has 150 calories. I kept entering different times in the cell C12
until the number of calories was equal to or just greater than the
number in the serving of Fritos."
- Divide the class into
groups of three to solve problems 9 and 10.
- Ask members of the
class to report on each problem, explaining how they solved each
problem. Emphasize how they are solving "What if?" problems.
Also ask members of the class to report on the additional ways that
computer spreadsheets can be used to solve "What if?"
statements (problem #10).
Measure
Give students a prepared spreadsheet of activities (e.g., jogging, playing
frisbee, sky diving) and their caloric expenditure.
Have students, individually, enter time segments for four activities to
determine the time per activity sufficient to burn a total of 1560 calories.
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