Root Words

I have many students who are thinking about a career in medicine. Any trip down the Path o' Medicine will require the learning of a great deal of jargon that goes with medicine.

For example, the word "hemocytometer" might shock someone not in the field, but anyone who has enough experience with the word roots will break it up into "hemo" (blood), "cyto" (cell), and "meter" (counter). Its a small device that helps you count blood cells.

So I have culled together as many root words, definitions, and examples as I can over the years and put them into a spreadsheet. I also had the idea to include a way to "search" the root words using Data Validation and VLOOKUP.

Here is the spreadsheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18XDP6VwiEzMchuMDZKRTzSLQj6aBegZtpRjf8Hoq_kM/edit?usp=sharing
You will have to make a copy of it (it is view-only) first in order to use its full functionality.

Begin typing a partial word root into cell A2 ("cyto" is a good place to start) and it will quickly narrow down the ~650 word roots into those matching your criteria. Hit return, and it will do a double VLOOKUP and provide the definition and some examples.

Random Student Google Sheet Script

Sometimes its good to call on random students during class. 

Calling on students is easy. Making it truly random and fair to everyone ISN'T. 

I've tried various methods over the years (notecards, popsicle sticks, even playing cards once), but as it always happens, I can't always find them when I want them, I lose them, or I do a poor job shuffling and feel I'm not being random. 

In order to make it more fair, I wrote a script in Google Sheets to pull the list of students from my spreadsheet (one sheet per class) and randomly pull a student's name from the list. It will continue (without replacement) to randomly select the students in the class until all are used up. 

Instructions on how to add a script (along with the actual script) can be found here.

The script itself is here. 

Full disclosure: I am NOT a programmer and I have no background in programming. I learned everything I know through books and Googling stuff. If you have a suggestion to improve on my script, let me know! I'll update it and give you credit. I'm a programming n00b and I do this in my (limited) spare time. 

Google Sheets Sorting & Grading Demonstration Form

This is my pride and joy - a set of formulas into Google Sheets which allows for:

• Instant grading of submitted forms (against my answer key)
• Checking against an imported class roster to see who has submitted or not submitted
• Sorting of students who are below a certain grade threshold (which can be adjusted)
• Checking for duplicate entries
• Collecting of email addresses for students who have not submitted form (to send a batch-email to them)

This is also in the description of the YouTube video, but here are the links for the:
Sorting & Demonstration Sheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14-kF2T4Tb4uusAYdLtCPNPGwKhmCjTH55X31dnGNiNA/edit?usp=sharing

Fake Name Template for Testing:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17Hj3mLBKQlzKnuukIwp002hJSQKx2pWY8kBmZSIv9g8/edit?usp=sharing

Form that data is pulled from: (collecting username is disabled so anyone can view)
https://docs.google.com/a/isd622.org/forms/d/1PQQFECAYtDn0nSOk_KE8SduYxcJZ1cHyKNOhJ8PvYiU/edit

First Post

Here's the first post on my site. I hope to have up here some Google Scripts that have been useful to me as I work on a high school Biology / Physical Science flipped classroom. 

My YouTube channel is:
https://www.youtube.com/user/MrAdamCarlson/

My course websites are:
https://sites.google.com/site/carlsonhaldybiology/
https://sites.google.com/site/carlsonpse/