A Beginner’s Guide to Creating Computer Simulations
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Transcript of A Beginner’s Guide to Creating Computer Simulations
What is an Excelet?
An Excelet is an interactive Excel spreadsheet or simulation that allows users to engage in critical problem solving.
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Learning Targets:
•To introduce you to the Forms Toolbar and a number of the tools available;
•To create a “just add data” interactive Excel spreadsheet.
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In a blank Excel worksheet, set up two columns, one with M&M colors, and one with a predicted number of each M&M color. Label the columns, number and color.
•Now let’s add a total to the number column, so we can make the comparison to the official color percentages from:• https://www.exeter.edu/document
s/mandm.pdf
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Click on cell B9
and select autosum.
You will hit the
enter key to get the
total number of
M&Ms in your bag.
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Here is a screenshot of
the official values and
setup for the
calculation using the
percentage from the
M&M website.
The number of each color in theory is
calculated by taking the actual total
number of M&M’s in your bag ($B$9) and
then multiplying by the official percent of
that color (D3) divided by 100 to get a
fraction. The total is from the SUM
calculation.
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• Add a new column.• Place the cursor in
the lower left hand box.
• This is the official comparison of your data to the M&M percentages.
Now if you click on the check box it will
return “TRUE” when checked and “FALSE” when unchecked in cell F16.
Now go to cell C3 and change the formula by adding the yellow highlighted part
shown below:
=IF($F$16=TRUE,$B$9*D3/100,0)
Drag this formula down the column to C8.
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Use this spreadsheet to test the following hypotheses:
How do different bags of the same size of M&M Milk Chocolate candies
compare?
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BootStrap• Bootstrap teaches program design
skills, allowing students to transfer skills to other programming languages.
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Why Programming?•Paradigm shift from “getting answers” to “describing functions.”
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Why Programming?A defined curriculum that aligns with the Common Core Standards for Math and ISTE Standards for Technology.
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How?Students use Order of operations, Pythagoream Theorem, function composition and definition to create and design a series of relevant programming problems.
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Who?Created by Emmamuel Schanzer of Cornell University. Supported by: NSF, Apple, Google, Cisco etc.
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Bootstrap Level 1:
Apply mathematical concepts and rigorous programming principles to create a simple video game.
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The authors make a distinction between designing a program vs. designing functions.
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Picturing Programs focus on pictures and animation as students explore recursion, lists, trees, and algorithms using the same language.
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This is a more advanced book, however, the principles are relevant for middle and high school students.
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Software
WeScheme is a cloud-based program. If you have a gmail account, you can use WeScheme.
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Software
If you don’t want to use a gmail account, you can use DrRacket instead.