Session 26: Skills Lab 3: Office Triathlon

At a glance: a practice-only Skills Lab: pupils do a typing check, then race through four 15-minute stations (an Open Day notice, a club budget with formulas and a chart, a survey data analysis, and a 4-slide deck they present), fix and re-try, and fill in their score sheet. Nothing new is taught. · Time: 90 minutes (adjust the timings if your period is shorter) · Workbook pages: 6

Learning outcomes

By the end of the session, pupils can:

1. Turn plain text into a one-page document with a title, headings, a bulleted list and a picture, with no spelling mistakes left, and save it with the right name.
2. Build a spreadsheet that uses SUM, AVERAGE, MAX, MIN, IF and COUNTIF, sort and filter data without breaking rows, and make a correct, titled chart.
3. Make a 4-slide deck that follows the 6-by-6 rule with strong contrast, and present one slide to an audience.

Before the session

• On every pupil PC, create the folder Documents > BIH_Practice > Skills_Lab_3 and put the four starter files below in it. Keep a copy of the folder on a USB stick so you can replace a file a pupil breaks.
• Notice_Starter.txt (type it in Notepad exactly like this, with the three planted spelling mistakes computters, freind and spreadsheats, and the Ghanaian names left as they are):

• Open_Day_Picture.png: any picture the club may use, for example a photo of the ICT lab with no faces, the club logo, or a free clip-art picture of a computer. Make it fairly large (about 1200 pixels wide) so pupils must resize it.
• Survey_Data.xlsx (type it in Excel, Calc or Sheets; row 1 is the header row; leave it unsorted in this order and do not freeze the row; that is the pupils' job):

• Survey_Data check: type the words exactly (no extra spaces after "Walk" or "Jollof"), or COUNTIF will miss them. Make sure the numbers in column E are numbers (right-aligned), not text.
• Deck_Brief.txt (one long paragraph on purpose):

Our Tech Club meets every Wednesday after school from 2:30 pm to 4:00 pm in the ICT lab. In the club we learn to type quickly and accurately with all ten fingers, we make documents like letters, posters and programmes, we build spreadsheets with formulas and charts, we create online surveys, and we design and present slide shows. Joining the club helps you with your schoolwork, gets you ready for senior high school and teaches you skills that many jobs need. It is free and every JHS pupil is welcome. The Open Day is on Friday 27 November at 2:00 pm in the ICT lab.

• Station 2 has no starter file: pupils type the budget from Page 3 (good typing practice). For pupils who need more support, also make Club_Budget_Starter.xlsx with rows 1 to 7 already typed (Item / Cost (GHS) / Check; Exercise books 80; Markers 30; Flip chart paper 48; Extension cable 65; USB drives 90; Open Day snacks 75) and keep it on your USB, not on the PCs.
• Check every PC has a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation program (Word/Excel/PowerPoint, the LibreOffice versions or Google Docs/Sheets/Slides with the Hub's learning account). Google users upload the starter files to Drive and download their finished work as .docx/.xlsx/.pptx into Skills_Lab_3.
• Put a large timer on the projector (any online countdown, or a phone), print one workbook score sheet per pupil if you are using paper, and test the Format a Real Document and 3D Spreadsheet Charts labs from the offline pack.
• Write the four team names on the board for team points.

Running order

Key ideas and how to explain them

• A Skills Lab shows what you can do, not what you can remember. Pupils may look back at their earlier workbooks during the fix-and-re-try time, but not during the first try. Say: "Real workers look things up too. Today we find out what you can do without looking."
• Three sports, four stations: Words (Station 1), Numbers (Stations 2 and 3) and Slides (Station 4). Every station ends with Ctrl + S.
• Team points: 1 point for each station a team member finishes inside the time, 1 point when a pupil helps another during fix-and-re-try by explaining, not by taking the mouse, and 2 points for the team whose presenter gives the best one-minute talk (the class votes with a show of hands).
• Honest ticks: the checklist tells you what to practise next. A missing tick is useful information, not a failure.
• The planted traps: spelling mistakes mixed with Ghanaian names (Session 17), the Total row and the chart (Session 20), sorting one column and breaking the rows (Session 22), and a wordy paragraph that breaks the 6-by-6 rule (Session 23).

The 3D lab

Two labs are open for this session: Format a Real Document ("Select paragraphs on a 3D page and use the ribbon: bold, sizes, alignment, bullets, numbering, heading styles, spell check, then print it on a 3D printer") and 3D Spreadsheet Charts ("Type numbers into a mini spreadsheet and watch columns and pie slices grow, with SUM, AVERAGE, MAX and MIN updating live"). Use them in the fix-and-re-try time: a pupil who struggled at Station 1 does the document lab missions (headings, bullets, spell check, print preview) before trying the notice again; a pupil who struggled at Station 2 does the chart lab missions (click a column to find its cell, change a number and watch SUM change, switch to a pie chart) first. Pupils who finished everything can race a partner through either lab. Do not use the labs instead of a station: every tick needs a real file.

Common mistakes and quick fixes

When things go wrong

• No internet: Word, Excel and PowerPoint (or LibreOffice) work offline, and so do the starter files and both 3D labs from the offline pack. Google-only PCs: pupils pair with a pupil on an offline PC, or wait for the internet and do the paper parts (the storyboard for Station 4) first.
• Not enough PCs: use pairs with a driver and a navigator. The navigator reads the steps and checks the checklist; the driver does it. Swap roles at every station, so each pupil drives two stations (for example, A drives 1 and 3, B drives 2 and 4). Each pupil then drives their other two stations in the fix-and-re-try time or in the first 20 minutes of Session 27. With very few PCs (one PC for 4 pupils or more), run the stations as a rotation: one group at the PCs on Station 1 while the others do the 3D labs, the Station 4 storyboard on paper and typing practice, then swap every 15 minutes, and finish the remaining stations next session.
• A PC freezes or the power goes: this is why every station says save first. Stop the clock for that pupil, restart, and reopen the file from Skills_Lab_3. If the starter file is damaged, copy a fresh one from your USB. If the power goes for everyone, finish on paper: pupils write the formulas for Station 2 and 3 in the workbook and storyboard Station 4, and do the computer parts next time.

Answer key

Station 1 (Words, Page 2): the title "TECH CLUB OPEN DAY" in the Title style (or 18–20 pt, bold, centred); the subtitle centred and italic; "What to bring" and "Who to see" in the Heading 1 style; the three things to bring as a bulleted list; the picture under the subtitle, smaller but the same shape; three spelling mistakes fixed: computters → computers, spreadsheats → spreadsheets, freind → friend; the names Bozoma, Akosua, Owusu-Ansah, Kwesi and Nyarko ignored or added to the dictionary (Kumasi may or may not be underlined, depending on the dictionary); Print Preview shows Page 1 of 1; saved as Notice_YourName.docx in Skills_Lab_3.

Station 2 (Numbers: budget, Page 3)

The total of GHS 388 is within the GHS 400 budget (GHS 12 left over). The chart is a column chart made from A1:B7 with the title "Open Day Budget": six bars, the tallest is USB drives, and there is no Total bar.

Station 3 (Numbers: survey, Page 4)

• After freezing, row 1 stays at the top when scrolling (Excel: View → Freeze Panes → Freeze Top Row; Google Sheets: View → Freeze → 1 row; LibreOffice Calc: View → Freeze Cells → Freeze First Row).
• Sorted by screen time, largest to smallest: P07 (JHS 3, Walk, Kenkey, 6) is on top, then P04 and P13 (5 hours); P03 and P09 (1 hour) are at the bottom.
• Filter Travel = Walk: 8 rows (P01, P03, P05, P07, P09, P12, P14, P16).
• Labels in G2 to G4, COUNTIF in H2 to H4 (column F left empty, as in Session 22): =COUNTIF(C2:C17,"Walk") = 8; =COUNTIF(D2:D17,"Jollof") = 6; =COUNTIF(E2:E17,">=4") = 6 (P02, P04, P07, P10, P13, P15).
• A good finding is true and specific, for example: "Half of the pupils (8 out of 16) walk to school." or "Jollof is the most popular food, chosen by 6 out of 16 pupils." or "6 out of 16 pupils have 4 or more hours of screen time a day."
• Other useful facts if pupils go further: Trotro 4, Bicycle 2, Car 2; Waakye 4, and Banku and tilapia, Fufu and Kenkey 2 each; average screen time 3.125 hours.

Station 4 (Slides, Page 5): 4 slides: a Title Slide (title and the pupil's name), then three Title and Content slides, for example "What We Learn" (typing, documents, spreadsheets and charts, surveys, slide shows), "Why Join?" (schoolwork, ready for SHS, skills for jobs, free) with the picture, and "Come Along!" (Friday 27 November, 2:00 pm, ICT lab; the club meets Wednesdays 2:30–4:00 pm). No slide has more than 6 bullets or more than 6 words in a bullet; text is dark on light or light on dark and at least 24 pt; the picture is not squashed; the pupil started the show with Shift + F5 (or F5, or the Slideshow button), faced the audience and spoke in their own words for about a minute, then pressed Esc.

Scoring (Page 6): 6 ticks per station plus 1 bonus point for finishing inside the time limit, so 7 per station and 28 in total. As a guide: 22–28 strong, 14–21 good progress, below 14 means re-teach the weakest station before Skills Lab 4.

Support and stretch

• Needs more support: give the Club_Budget_Starter.xlsx file so the pupil starts at step 2 of Station 2, and let them do Station 3 steps 1–3 before COUNTIF. Allow their Session 16–24 workbooks open during the re-try. Pair them as navigator first, so they see the steps before driving.
• Finished early: in Station 2, add =IF(B8<=400,"Within budget","Over budget") in C8, then change the snacks to 90 and watch it change to "Over budget" (total 403). In Station 3, add a column chart of how pupils travel (type the four COUNTIF results in a small table first). In Station 1, add a header with the club name and a page number in the footer. Or help another team by asking questions, not by taking the mouse (team points!).

Evidence for sign-off

Sign the score sheet when the pupil has a recorded typing check and a saved file for each station they drove, in Skills_Lab_3 with the correct names, and you have initialled each station with the number of ticks. Tick a Passport skill only when you saw it working in the pupil's own file today (for example, click B8 and see =SUM(B2:B7); see P07 on top with its row intact). These ticks are evidence for the Silver Passport at Skills Lab 4 (Session 35); nothing is awarded today. Pupils who could not drive all four stations finish them in the next session before their ticks are complete.

How to re-teach: for every station where a pupil scored 3 ticks or fewer, write the session number on their score sheet (Station 1: Sessions 16–18; Station 2: Sessions 19–20 and 22; Station 3: Session 22; Station 4: Sessions 23–24) and give them 10 minutes in the next session to redo that station with a fresh starter file, using the re-try hints and their old workbook.

Safety and wellbeing

Timed races can make some pupils anxious. Remind everyone that this is practice, nobody fails a Skills Lab, and the score is only for them and their mentor; never read individual scores aloud or rank pupils on the board (team points are for teams, not individuals). All data is fictional: the survey uses pupil numbers, not names, which is the "ask only what you need" rule from Session 21. If you use a real photo for Open_Day_Picture.png, it must have no pupils' faces unless you have their consent. Pupils open and save only their own files and ask before deleting anything in the shared folders.