How Many Volcanic Eruptions Occur in a Year?

Using a Spreadsheet to Organize Volcano Data

Objectives:

• Students will look at the data for active and erupting volcanoes and count the number of volcanoes that occurred each month for 1995 and 1996.
• Students will record this information in a spreadsheet that they have set up, which includes formulas to find the total volcanoes for each year.

Web Sites for Obtaining Data

• Volcanic Unrest and Eruptions in 1995
• Volcanic Unrest and Eruptions in 1996

Setting up your Spreadsheet to Record the Data

• Open ClarisWorks.
• Choose Word Processing.

  

• Under View, choose Show Tools.
• Click on the cross tool. This is the spreadsheet tool.

  

• Move your cursor over to your word processing document and you will notice that the cursor changes to the spreadsheet tool. When you click and drag diagonally you will make a spreadsheet to the size you choose. You can adjust the size at any time by clicking on the cursor tool (the arrow), then clicking on the spreadsheet. It will get handles and you can make it smaller or larger or delete it.

• Make a spreadsheet with 3 columns and 14 rows.

• To add text or numbers to a cell in the spreadsheet, click in that cell. Type in the information. Your typing will appear in the text window under the menu bar. When you hit return it will appear in the cell.

  To change the size of the cells, from the menu bar, click on Format and drag to Column width or Row height. Under Format, is also the place to change the text - font, size, or color. In order to have the words for your title stay in one cell, click on Format and drag to Alignment and then to Wrap.

  

• Next we will add a formula so the spreadsheet will calculate your total earthquakes for each year.
  • Click in cell B14. Type in the formula: =SUM(B2..B13) and press return. A zero should appear in cell B14.
  • Click in cell C14. Type in the formula: =SUM(C2..C13) and press return. A zero should appear in cell C14.
• Now enter the earthquake data.
• After entering your data, highlight the information you want shown on your graph. Then go to Options in the menu bar and drag down to Make Chart. Choose the type of graph you want to make.
• Your final document should have a title and your names at the top. If you have extra time, import a graphic that goes along with your data.

Some Web Sites to Explore

• Volcano World is a great website to get an image and learn more about volcanoes.
• Today in Volcano History