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Very young students can begin to use technology to organize and analyze their data in sophisticated ways. The National Center for Education Statistics (2005) reported that 67% of nursery school students and 80% of kindergarten students were using computers in 2003. By the early elementary grades, some of these students are ready to begin using spreadsheet programs. The purpose of this column is to introduce readers to two simple procedures available in Microsoft Excel that can be used with gifted and talented elementary students. The first can be used with primary students to create simple column (bar) graphs. The second can be used beginning with middle elementary students to plot and calculate simple relationships (correlations). Upper elementary students can begin the research process by reading about the topic they are investigating. Researchers call this conducting a review of literature. This process serves three purposes. First, students develop background on what they are interested in studying. Second, it helps students focus their interest and helps them to refine research questions that they will answer by collecting data. While data collection techniques become more complex for older children, spreadsheet programs are powerful and versatile enough to aid the most sophisticated student researchers. Many advanced statistical procedures can be calculated with Excel, whose powerful functions have often been ignored.

1Boy Crusoe

By Allan Eric

Also published as" A Yankee Crusoe" . A 15 year old hard working and studious farm boy finds the lure of adventure on the seas as a merchant seaman more than he can resist. This is his story. " I was born in a little town in the State of Maine, near the close of the Civil War. My boyhood life did not differ materially from that of the average farmer's son in the remote country districts of New England--except, perhaps, that I read more and thought more. Hard work on the rugged soil, two terms each year in the little yellow country schoolhouse, a day's fishing now and then filled the early years of my life full to over-flowing. " What he gets is enough excitement and adventure to overflow his wildest dreams. How he experiences disaster and uses his wits and knowledge to overcome every problem makes for a great read. - Summary by Phil Chenevert