Spreadsheets are a crucial part of every student’s curriculum, but they can be a boring topic if not introduced in an entertaining manner. Playing games on Google Sheets is an effective hands-on way to introduce younger students to spreadsheets and get them used to all the basic functions.

An easy game to play with students in class is battleships. To start, have all students open up Google Sheets on their personal devices and pull up a spreadsheet on the BenQ Board as well. Walk students through naming the spreadsheet, setting cell sizes, changing borders, and colouring in cells. From there, have students make and name their ships, then show them how to select ship cells to move them around the spreadsheet. When everyone is ready to play and the students have placed their ships in the water, you can call out cell references, which the students then fill with colour in their spreadsheets.

Students take in an overwhelming amount of information on a daily basis. Google Sheets can help them better process all this data by enabling the creation of databases for any subject, equipping them with a skill that will prove useful throughout their academic career and beyond.

Data collection can first be practised using a shared class spreadsheet. By connecting your notebook to a BenQ Board, you can walk your students through the process of setting up a table to teach them how to make their own database. Students should then begin collecting data individually or in groups while simultaneously populating the table. You can also teach them to add dropdown lists, filter data, and sort lists alphabetically.

If you have enabled two-way touch between your notebook and the BenQ Board, a web browser can be opened to find information or visual aids. Students can then input information into the table or search for data directly on the interactive display.