Grade 7 spring extension results pooled in a shared Google Sheet to find outliers.

In groups of three, each group with the same type of spring, students hang masses on a spring in 1 N steps up to 6 N, wearing eye protection, and measure the extension with a ruler clamped beside the spring. Each group types its readings into its own row of a shared class Google Sheet, which the teacher has set up to plot every group's results on one chart of extension against load. As the chart fills, the teacher points to readings that sit well off the class pattern and asks that group whether it is a misread ruler, a spring stretched past its limit of proportionality or a spring that was already damaged. Groups re-measure any suspect reading, and the class uses the sheet's average row to draw a line of best fit and state the relationship between force and extension.

Tools: Google Sheets Nine ideas for your own version in Generate