Electronic Proceedings of the Twelfth Annual International Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics

San Francisco, California, November 4-7, 1999

Paper C032

Spreadsheet Mathematics for Five Year Olds

Diane Crann


University of Hertfordshire
Hatfield, Hertfordshire AL10 9AB
UK


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Carol Pepper


Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Girls
Elstree, Hertfordshire WD6 3BT
UK

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ABSTRACT

Spreadsheets have been used in the High School, College and University classrooms for the past eight years or so for the teaching and learning of quite sophisticated mathematical numerical methods. However, it is also possible to introduce spreadsheets to very young children to encourage them to discuss ideas in basic mathematics and its applications. Indeed it can stimulate teachers to look at problems with the children from a perspective quite different from the usual approaches.

We shall demonstrate an idea which was taken with a class of children in first grade in an English primary school and suggest ideas for further development.

Keyword(s): spreadsheets