TEACHING CORNER
Spreadsheet tools for biometry classes in crop science programmes
Andrea Onofri, Euro Pannacci
Commun. Biometry Crop Sci. (2014) 9 (2), 43-53.
ABSTRACT
Teaching biometry to undergraduate students in crop science or
similar programmes may be a challenging task, as these students
show a small background in mathematics and computer programming and
are mainly interested in practical applications. It is therefore fundamental
to use ‘realistic’ case-studies and provide the students with statistical
software that does not overload them with a steep learning curve. This paper
wishes to bring to the attention of readers two new EXCEL macro add-ins
(DSAASTAT and BIOASSAY97), which have been extensively tested, validated and
used as teaching aids in biometry courses. They only require a basic knowledge
of spreadsheet environments and may also be useful for technicians and practitioners
for general data analyses of ‘routine’ field experiments.
Key Words: ANOVA; nonlinear regression; statistical teaching software; spreadsheet.
