Working with Applets II

In this section we look at how applets can be used together with other general purpose tools -- in this case a spreadsheet. Click here to open a new window with an example. Note that with a slow connection it may take a few minutes for this page to load. Wait until the usual map of Afghanistan appears. As usual, arrange these two windows so that they overlap and you can move back-and-forth between them by clicking on the inactive window to make it active.

Try the example out to see how a student would use it. For a student-ready problem click here. When you are done we will discuss how you can use applets together with a spreadsheet in the materials that you develop.

When you are done esxperimenting with the example click here to download instructions for creating modules like this. Save these instructions in the same directory that you used this morning for the applet Image_and_Cursor. This module uses the same applet.

One of the most important things we must do as teachers is to help our students develop the ability to use a set of general purpose tools together with information they obtain from other sources to answer questions that interest them. The module we just looked at illustrates this idea. Students use a general purpose tool, in this case a spreadsheet, to analyze information obtained from a Java applet. We want to use this same idea next in another setting -- data from the United States Census Bureau. Click here to open a new window with the Census Bureau's Gateway to Census 2000. Arrange these two windows so they overlap and you can easily move back-and-forth between them by clicking on the inactive window to make it active.

Next click the American FactFinder button. When you get to the new page select Age and Sex (GCT) from the show me pull down menu, select United States - State from the for pull down menu, and click the Go button. Now choose Download from the Print/Download menu item. A dialog box will present you with a choice of either tab delimited or comma delimited data. Choose tab delimited and click OK. Another dialog box will offer you the choice of saving the downloaded file. Save it and note where you are saving it and its name.

Now open Excel. From within Excel open the file you just downloaded. You may be asked for information about the file. It is tab delimited. Now you can use the usual features of Excel to analyze this data.