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The Spreadsheet Algebra Revolution
Technology requires us to reimagine and reinvigorate education. It requires us to ask not only how students learn but what they learn. And it requires us to ask whether Algebra 1, icon and curriculum centerpiece, now obsolete and irrelevant, should be eliminated. That act cascading through schools, profoundly and fundamentally transforms not just the mathematics we teach but the very nature and structure of education. In these Spreadsheet Algebra posts we explore this incipient revolution and ask the questions that can guide its evolution.
Why don’t students use spreadsheets in school?
We don’t find spreadsheets in the curriculum because Algebra 1 and Spreadsheets are incompatible. The most important business/industry tool, cannot solve equations like 3x-9=13 for an unknown even though Google Search can! (Try it)
Should we eliminate Algebra 1?
Algebra 1 is not benign. It is the primary barrier to school success, gatekeeper to AP Calc, high school graduation, a college degree and “the most failed community college course.” Algebra 1, with its collection of medieval paper algorithms and concepts, is no longer needed and will never be used.
What is Spreadsheet Algebra?
Spreadsheets display variables as a column or row of numbers and calculate functions using rules that transform input numbers into outputs. The spreadsheet’s ability to display functions as tables and graphs as well as symbols enables all students to visualize mathematics and to apply it.
Do spreadsheets make our current math curriculum a house of cards?
Algorithmic arithmetic and algebra along with their associated structures would be unnecessary. Spreadsheets automatically calculate, make concepts concrete, and provide room for new curricula using their power to solve data rich interesting complex problems.
What is the model and goal for this revolutionary education?
The business school case study, where students solve real world problems, where learning is a collaborative not a competitive process, where creative shared laboratory-like experiences are the norm, is where all students can become spreadsheet capable, data science literate, functional thinkers.