How the site relates to the QCA Scheme of Work for ICT at KS2

 

This activity is based on unit 5D of the QCA Scheme of Work for ICT:  Introduction to Spreadsheets.  It can be extended by making replica products and money using the resources in the Store Cupboard, the packaging nets in the KS1 Victorian Shop activity, and the replica coins provided in the Bureau de Change.

 About the Activity

It looks at prices from 1911 and 2001 and uses spreadsheets to calculate changes in the value of money.  It requires children to format different types of field, to enter text and data, and to use the spreadsheet to perform calculations with the data.  It also offers the opportunity for children to make critical analyses of the data, for example by comparing what products have become cheaper or more expensive.

 Resources

Children are provided with a list of fifteen items with 1911 and 2001 prices from which they should choose at least ten.  ‘Explore a Store’ provides illustrations of the items, together with their price comparisons.  Products with 1911 prices greater than 11d are excluded from the shopping list for this activity as they require an understanding of  calculating sums in more than one base, ie 12d=1s. The complete 1911 Price list is available in the Bureau de change.

  Using the sample spreadsheet provided, they enter the names of the products into the text ‘product’ field, and the 1911 and 2001 prices into the correct data fields. 

 Children create a formula to calculate 1911 prices as 2001 values (based on 1d = 18p).

 They then copy the formula to all ten products and format the formula and 2001 columns into £.pp currency format.

 

Extension activities:

Ÿ         ‘What’s cheaper, what’s dearer?

Ÿ         What are the five cheapest products in 1911 money?  And at 2001 prices?  (using the ‘sort’ facility)

Ÿ         What can I buy for less than £2.00 at 1911 and 2001 values (using either ‘find’ or sort’)

Ÿ        Enter products into a spreadsheet to calculate 1911 shopping bill in 2001 money. Examples of real customer orders are provided in the Reference Library. (Note that doing this for the 1911 prices would require children to tackle addition in three bases, ie twelve old pence to the shilling, twenty shillings to the pound.  Sample spreadsheets to perform these calculations, and conversion tables for £sd to £pp are provided in the Bureau de Change)

Ÿ        Victorian arithmetic: examples of typical examination questions using £sd for Level 1 arithmetic (ages 5-6) are provided in the Bureau de Change.  Here again, children will find the ‘foreign’ nature of pre-decimal currency easier using the downloadable money provided.

   

  QCA Scheme of Work Unit 5D Introduction to Spreadsheets

 

In this unit children learn to enter numbers, labels and simple formulae into a spreadsheet and to use the data to calculate totals.  Children will be introduced to spreadsheet software and will explore how changes in price and quantity can affect total cost.  Children will apply what they have learnt in this unit when exploring mathematical and scientific models.

 

Where the Unit fits in

This unit builds on earlier units about information handling.  The unit assumes that children:

Ÿ         Can calculate total costs

Ÿ         Can recognise number patterns

Ÿ         Can use a reference to locate a grid in a square

 

Technical Vocabulary

Ÿ         Spreadsheet

Ÿ         Cell

Ÿ         Formula

Ÿ         Sum

Ÿ         Calculate

 

Resources

Ÿ         Spreadsheet software

Ÿ         A ‘shopping list’ of products and prices from 1911 and 2001

Ÿ         A prepared spreadsheet

Ÿ         Downloadable coins

Ÿ         Examples of elementary arithmetic exercises from a Victorian primer Page 1 and Page 2

 

Expectations

At the end of this unit

Most children will:

use a spreadsheet to carry out calculations

Some children will not have made so much progress and will:     

use a spreadsheet to produce a table of data

Some children will have progressed further and will           

use a spreadsheet to carry out calculations; explore the effects of changing the data in a spreadsheet