EXCEL PROJECT:
TOOLS FOR DATA
ANALYSIS
By:
Kara McNish
INTRODUCTION
 Class: Personal Finance/Careers, Full year
course, graduation requirement
 Unit: Income and Taxes
 Classroom: Computer lab with desktop
computers, 2010 Microsoft Office and
SMART Board
 Students: All freshman, range of Advanced
to SPED, 504, ELL
 Objective: Students will understand how
taxes affect net income and be able to
show this through the Excel Payroll Project.
 Standards: 9.2.8.A.7., 9.2.8.A.9, and
9.2.12.A.9
INTRODUCTION
 Activities:
 Day 1:
 Bellwork: Question via Edmodo
 Prime Time 1: Whole group instruction Day 1 of gross vs. net pay and
parts of a pay check (tax and non tax deductions)
 Down Time: Complete Questions on class discussion via Google Forms
 Prime Time 2: Whole group demonstration of completed examples of
Excel Payroll Project they will be starting tomorrow .
 Exit Ticket: Poll questions via Edmodo polling students on their comfort
level with Excel for tomorrow’s project
INTRODUCTION
 Activities:
 Day 2:
 Bellwork: Question via Edmodo
 Prime Time 1: Whole group instruction Day 2 of and overview of the
Excel Payroll Project and how to utilize the formulas in Excel using a
Screen-Cast-O-Matic video (video will also be linked on Class Edmodo
page so students can view individually and reference throughout
project)
 Down Time: Students being work on their Excel Payroll Project
 Prime Time 2: Discuss any questions they may have regarding the
project
INTRODUCTION
 Activities:
 Day 3:
 Bellwork: Question via Edmodo
 Prime Time 1: Whole group instruction Day 3 review yesterday’s Excel
formulas and functions, answer any questions, review rubric
 Down Time: Students being work on their Excel Payroll Project
 Prime Time 2: Discuss the analyzing of the data to complete the
questions for Homework
BRAINY BITS- LEARNING
STYLES
 Abstract Sequential: Logical, conceptual
learners
 Working in Excel, working with numbers
 Concrete Sequential: Organized,
perfectionists
 Detailed directions, video (step by step)
 Abstract Random: Spontaneous, social
 Class discussion, being a student ambassador
(helper)
 Concrete Random: Practical, hands -on
 Working with real life situation that is
relatable to everyone especially students with
a job
BRAINY BITS- THE
LOBES




Frontal: Planning, thinking, and direct problem solving
Temporal: Sound, music, face and object recognition
Occipital: Exclusively used for visual processing
Parietal: Calculations
BASIC SKILLS
 Data in rows in columns
 Formatting (bold, font, underline, borders, fill)
 Column width adjustments, text alignments
BASIC SKILLS
1.
3.
2.
•
•
ADDITION & MULTIPLICATION formulas
were utilized to calculate gross pay & net pay.
MULTIPLICATION was used to calculate the
tax deductions (only one shown).
•
SUM function was used to calculate the sum
of all the deductions for each employee, as
well as the sum of each individual deduction
categories and, gross and net pay totals for
all employees.
TODAY function was used to set the date that the payroll is being done and
can be used in the template for future week’s payrolls. This function
automatically updates for the present days date.
BASIC SKILLS
•
Freeze Panes were used to see
the employee names with their
gross pay and net pay.
•
Cell references on different sheets,
were used to reference the gross pay
sheet where the gross pay for each
employee was already calculated
via a formula, rather than
recalculating.
•
Conditional
Formatting “Data
Bars” was used to
visually show how
many hours each
employee worked.
The longer the
green bar the more
hours worked, the
shorter the bar the
less hours worked.
•
Auto Fill was used
to fill the number
for employee
numbers.
BASIC SKILLS
•
Absolute reference, was used when calculating overtime pay. Every employee
earns 1.5 their regular rate of pay so to calculate overtime pay, we referenced cell
B21, which was the overtime pay rate, and added the $ to make it absolute and
stay the same throughout all the overtime pay calculations.
•
Cell references on same sheets, we references the overtime pay rate to calculate
overtime pay, this was located on the same sheet in the “rates” chart.
ADVANCED SKILLS
 Chart
 Graph
 IF Function
Graph comparing gross vs. net pay of each
employee.
Chart used to reference
“rates” for taxes and
overtime rates.
IF function used for regular & over time hours. Function for
regular hours states, if hours worked is <40.5, then regular
hours worked is“40”, if not then it is equal to D3. Function
for overtime hours states, if the hours worked are >40.5
then subtract total hours worked (D4) from Regular hours
worked (F4) and use that number, if not then “0”.
EVALUATION
 Studen ts will be graded based on this rubric. They will also have follow up
questions to help them evaluate their data and not just input numbers and
formulas. They will be asked to analyze the gross vs. net pay and the tax
deductions.
EXAMPLES
 Examples of a finished project:
EXAMPLES
 Examples of a finished project:
EXAMPLES
 Examples of a finished project:
RESOURCES
 Advanogy. 2015. February 2015 <http://learning -stylesonline.com/overview/>.
 Cherry, Kendra. About Education. n.d. February 2015
<http://psychology.about.com/od/biopsychology/ss/brainstru
cture_2.htm>.
 Serendip Studio. 2012. February 2015
<http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/kinser/Structure1.html>.
 Wiggins, Dr. Sandy. CES. n.d. February 2015
<http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/fcs/Professional%20PDFs/1
0a%20Gregorc%20Learning%20and%20Teaching%20Styles.pd
f>.