The first step is to calculate what the correct answers are based on the data the student inputs. Look at cells C6 through C12 that are in red. The purpose of these cells are to create a space in which the correct calculated answers are present based on student data. If you click on cell C7 “The mass of iron reacted (g)” here is the code that appears in tool bar. The key to creating a spreadsheet that does the grading for you is NOT that you need to know how to code. You simply need to know someone who knows how to code and understand the code enough to be able to copy, paste and tweak it a little bit. So let’s take a look and break this down a bit. There are some key points at this stage. Students send me the electronic copy. I make it clear that everyone has to also submit a hard copy with the detailed calculations. I can electronically copy the above table into my spreadsheet which is the “grader” and then hit “print”. Below is what that would look like. Here is a typical spreadsheet data table. I use iron nails and copper (II) sulfate. The lab is attached to this blog in the Supporting Information below. If they get a one to one mole ratio then reaction “A” is the reaction. If they get a two to three iron to copper mole to mole ratio then most likely it is reaction “B”. The students then convert the solid iron and solid copper into moles. Mass the solid iron before the reaction.Here is the essential part of this lab whether it is done with students using copper (II) sulfate or copper (II) chloride. If you happen to have an Atomsmith membership like I do, the reaction is also modeled there. One nice aspect of this lab is that there is a Flinn Lab - Iron Filings: A Mole Lab that Actually Works available as a free download with the full write up. ![]() The purpose of this blog is to examine spreadsheets more than the lab activity itself but I need to set the context of this example lab and the spreadsheet. Although this idea could be used for any number of quantitative data type labs I am going to use it for a general stoichiometry lab here. In the lab the students can either use iron filings or a clean iron nail and react it with copper (II) sulfate or copper (II) chloride. They are presented with one of two reactions. I have chosen the reaction of iron filings with copper (II) sulfate.Ī. ![]() It is easier to have spreadsheets read just numbers. The first step is to decide what data and calculated answers I want from students. I always make sure to have the data tables first and then the calculated answers second in the spreadsheet. I make it really clear to students that they are only supposed to put in the numbers and not the numbers with the labels. There is always the problem of one student copying off everyone else when I have students work in groups. A spreadsheet and a spreadsheet grader can lighten the load and still keep students responsible. It will be helpful if you DOWNLOAD the google spreadsheet that I have created for a lab that I use. There are three tabs at the bottom of the spreadsheet that will be the focus of this blog. The tabs are “Student Data and Calcs”, “ Teacher Grader” and “Change Color based on Answer”. "What are we doing to help students achieve?"Įvery chemistry teacher I know wants to do hands on and minds on labs. The struggle sometimes is with the number of students and the time required for grading papers. Suppose you have a hundred students and you want to do a lab, perhaps a stoichiometry lab, with quantitative data. If each student does the lab all of the sudden it becomes a grading headache. I always feel I have the responsibility to check for significant numbers, calculations and labels. This could become a ton of squeeze but not much juice.
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