Although I found the first chapter we read much more informative, I still thought that the chapter about spreadsheets and databases was interesting. As Hamilton said, "some would question whether these two tools are appropriate for elementary students" (145). I am guilty of this as well. I was skeptical when we began discussing spreadsheets being used in the elementary classrooms besides using them for math purposes.
Little did I know, databases and spreadsheets are used for many other things than mathematics. Still, I think my favorite part about Hamilton's book in general is the great ideas that are presented in each section. I love discovering new and interesting ways to use this technology! Because I am an elementary education major, I think the activity that struck me the most was acrostic poems. I loved these as a child and never realized that by using spreadsheets, much creativity and thought can be put into them. I was also interested in the way that classrooms used spreadsheets to track their reading by genre (English) while also using it to make a graph of their findings (Mathematics).
Overall, spreadsheets and databases are very functional and can be used in many different ways in the elementary classroom.
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