Your starter for...

Your starter for...

Year 7 have been working on a Data Handling unit of work this week.  Mode, Median, Mean and Range have been the key words of the past few days.

Ever considered using Google Forms to create an interactive starter activity?  Even better you can set up the form to mark the activity to give immediate feedback.

Here's how...

Navigate to "Drive" in the toolbar at top of your browser window and "create" a form.  Give your form a name and then create your questions.  I created six questions.

The act of designing a form, like the one above, automatically creates an associated spreadsheet to collect responses as your students complete the activity.

Navigate back to your Google Drive and open up your new Google Spreadsheet.  Click on "Insert", select "script" and search for Flubaroo.  Flubaroo is an open source, free of charge, script that works alongside the spreadsheet to mark the responses on your behalf.  Once Flubaroo is installed, click the new link on your menu bar and follow the instructions.  It really is as simple as that!

This is a sample of the results tab that Flubaroo generates.  Instant feedback that can be shared with the class as a whole or individually.

This was a quick 10 minute starter that engaged the whole group and provided great feedback for both me and my students.

A step-by-step guide written by Richard Byrne from Free Technology for Teachers can be found on the Resource page of this blog.