Database Lesson.

DATE: 5th November 2007

CLASS Form 4S

TIME: 90 Min.

UNIT Electricity

TOPIC Conservation of electrical energy.


Synopsis:

Electrical appliances are common items found in homes. Appliances such as air conditioners, washing machines, stereos etc. depend on electricity form the national grid in order to function. At the end of a two month period the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC) sends a bill to each home in order to obtain payment for the electrictiy consumed by the household. The amount of electricity used depends on the power rating of the appliance and the time period it was used.
In this lesson you will modify an existing database (power.mdb) which stores information on the appliances found in homes and their power rating. Specifically you will:
Create a table in Microsoft Access showing appliances, power rating and the time the appliance is used in your home every day (based on research you carried out).
Applying queries on the table you created in order to determine how much power is consumed in your home over a period of one month.
Produce a report in Microsoft Access on power consumption at your home to your parents.
Recommend how to minimize your parents’ electricity bill.
Objectives of lesson.
At the end of this lesson students will be able to:
Examine the structure of a simple databases.
Create a table with relevant headings in Microsoft Access in order to store research data.
Query a table in order to obtain information from data.
Use information from queries to make decisions.
Generate reports in Microsoft Access based on findings from queries.
Communicate information to a specific audience.

Guiding Questions:

What information may be most useful to extract from the database in order to accomplish the assigned tasks?
How do I query the database so that it will provide useful information?
How are reports generated from queries?
Science Principles supported by this lesson.

Problem solving:

Students are faced with a real world problem involving electrical power consumption of common household appliances. They must understand the use of queries for extracting data from databases. They must also create and implement queries to effectively obtain useful information in order to complete activities.
Decision making:
Students have to decide how they can most effectively achieve the objectives of the lesson. They must decide which queries will provide the best results and how to use these results to generate a suitable report using Microsoft Access.

Use of technology:

Students will make use of computers and programs (Microsoft Access) in order to query a database and communicate results by the creation of a suitable report generated in Access. Students will be exposed to the relationship between science and technology.

Working as part of teams:

Students will understand that as scientists they are required to work individually as well as members of teams. Working in groups they share responsibilities, data and results. They will understand that communication is essential for effective group interaction.

National Educational Technology Standards addresses in this lesson.

Creativity:

In this lesson students will engage in the creation of queries to extract information from a database. They will also create a report on power consumption in their home and make recommendations to their parents in order to reduce their power bill. Students will demonstrate creative thinking while completing these tasks.
Communication and collaboration:
Students will be required to communicate and work collaboratively as teams in order to create queries. They are then required to communicate ideas effectively to another audience (parents) through the use of reports.

Research:

Students are required to plan strategies to guide inquiry into an authentic problem. They are required to synthesize information, process data using technology and report results as part of this lesson.

Critical thinking:

During this lesson students will analyse data in order to make informed decisions about how to reduce power consumption in their homes.

Technology Operations and Concepts:

In order to complete the activities in this lesson students will have to understand and use Microsoft Access effectively. The application will have to be used in a productive manner.

Assessment Strategies:

A combination of formative and summative assessment strategies are used throughout the lesson in order to evaluate student learning. The formative assessments are used to guide development of the lesson and provide feedback to students. They will be monitored using a checklist (see appendix). If students are having difficulties at any stage of the lesson they can be quickly addressed by conducting mini interventions in order to facilitate the completion of the activities.

Activities which involve the use of summative assessments are clearly shown in the list of activities below. In this lesson summative assessments are made using a report rubric and students’ journals. The rubric isdisplayed in the appendix at the end of the lesson plan.
The rubric will be handed out at the beginning of the lesson so that students will know what standards are required throughout the exercises.


REFERENCES

Physics For You – Keith Johnson.
Microsoft Office For Windows – Steve Sagman.

PREREQUISITES

Knowledge: Students should know that:

Databases such as Microsoft Access are useful for storing large amounts of data.
Tables are the basic unit of storage in databases.
Useful information can be obtained by asking the database questions i.e. querying the database.
Reports can be generated from database queries.
The quality of the report depends on the quality of the stored data and the queries presented to the database (GIGO).

Skills: students should know how to

Locate and open stored database files on computers.
Develop queries in design view.
Run a query.
Use criteria in order to extract specific information from a database.
Generate reports based on queries.
MATERIALS & RESOURCES

FOR TEACHER
FOR EACH GROUP/STUDENT

Handouts for each student containing synopsis, lesson objectives and guiding questions.
Computer with Microsoft Office 2003 installed.
Database (power.mdb) created in previous lesson and stored on the desktop.
Handout outlining activities for the lesson.


CONCEPT STATEMENT.

Technological tools exist which make storage and retrieval of large amounts of data easy. Electronic databases makes it possible to process large volumes of data quickly and efficiently compared to manual systems. Such analysis allow students to act like scientists and gain conceptual understanding of the large volumes of data they are faced with. Patterns in data can be easily identified allowing meaningful decisions to be made.

PROCESS SKILLS

During this lesson, student will be engaged in:

Designing and Planning procedure.
Interpreting, evaluating and modifying data.
Extracting and communicating ideas and observations.
Decision-making based on examination of evidence.


Activities.

Introduction:

Teacher
1) Welcomes class.
2) States the purpose of the lesson.
3) Explains his/her role as a facilitator throughout the activities.
4) Instructs students to locate and open power.mdb file on computer desktops.

Students:

Listens attentively and formulate questions to aid their understanding of tasks.
Arrange themselves in pre-determined pairs to perform activities.
Locate and open power.mdb

Assessment:

Students understanding of the task will be determined by the questions they ask and their response to questions posed by the facilitator.
(Formative; use of checklist)

Students ability to locate and open power.mdb
(Formative; use of checklist)


Development:

Teacher
1) Focuses students attention on reading the handout which contains guidance designed to facilitate students creation of a table based on specifications.

2) Focuses students attention on reading the handout which contains guiding questions designed to facilitate students creation of suitable queries.

3) Observes student activities which follow, provides feedback as required and intervenes when asked to or it is determined necessary.



4) When the query provides intended results facilitator focuses students attention on developing required report and making recommendations to parents.
Read the handouts and ask questions to clarify any problematic issues which may arise about the creation of the table.


Students:

create table.
Discuss between themselves possible queries which can be used to provide information about appliance, power consumption and time in use.

Decide on queries they think will provide the information required and ask for feedback from facilitator.

Students run queries and decide if the information obtained is useful for the task.

Students modify query if necessary and runs again until objective is achieved.


Students develops reports based on queries.

Students make recommendations to their parents.

Assessment:

Students articulated conceptions of the task.
(Formative; use of checklist)


The table has required headings and correct data type assigned to columns(Summative)

Active participation by pairs of students in discussions related to the accomplishment of task.. (Formative; use of checklist)

The quality of the query will be assesses in order to provide feedback to students.
(Formative; use of checklist)

Active discussions between students. (Formative; use of checklist).

Students work together as a team. (Formative)

The quality of the report produced (Summative; use of rubric.)

Recommendations to parents based on findings made by querying database. (Summative)

CONSOLIDATION

Students summarize their learnings from the session in their journal. (Summative)



See Appendix for

Checklist for formative assessments.
Rubric for summative assessment.
Checklist for applying technology integration planning model.



Appendix.
Assessments.

Checklist for formative assessments.


Questions asked about tasks.
Students located power.mdb.
Student opened power.mdb.
Table created.
Active participation in discussions about queries.
Understands use of queries.
Useful queries developed.
Active invo lvement in query design.
Student work as a team member.




Rubric for assessing report to parents.
Date: ……………………………..
Class: ……………………………
Report Rubric.
Teacher Name: _______________________________________

Student Name: ________________________________________

CATEGORY
4
3
2
1

Organization

Information is very organized with well-constructed paragraphs and subheadings.
Information is organized with well-constructed paragraphs.
Information is organized, but paragraphs are not well-constructed.
The information appears to be disorganized.

Quality of Information

Information clearly relates to the main topic. It includes several supporting details and/or examples.
Information clearly relates to the main topic. It provides 1-2 supporting details and/or examples.
Information clearly relates to the main topic. No details and/or examples are given.
Information has little or nothing to do with the main topic.
Mechanics

No grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors.
Almost no grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors
A few grammatical spelling, or punctuation errors.
Many grammatical, spelling, or punctuation errors.

Total: ……………………………..







Checklist for applying technology integration planning model.


Phase 1:
Determining the "Relative Advantage"—Why Use Technology?
What is the relative advantage of the technology-based solutions?

Students will integrate three disciplines in this lesson:

Physics, communications, information technology.
Students will use technology to process data faster and more efficiently than with manual systems.

Is the relative advantage sufficient to justify the effort involved in adopting these solutions?

Yes, the integration of disciplines should prove motivational for students.

The speed and efficiency of data retrieval and processing will allow students to appreciate the advantages of integrating technology in their everyday activities.

Phase 2:
Planning Assessments — What Are Appropriate Assessment Strategies?

What kinds of performances do I expect from students to show they have learned the topic?

Mastery of the tasks assigned.
Engagement in deep reflection.

Production of a quality product.

What is the best way for me to assess students' learning progress and products?

A checklist will be used to facilitate formative assessments.

A rubric will be used to facilitate summative assessment.

Student journals will provide information on students’ learning.

Phase 3:
Planning Instruction — What Are Appropriate Integration Strategies?

Instruction will be interdisciplinary (physics, communication, information technology).

The students will be paired.

Activities will be a combination of directed and constructivist.

Have I allowed students enough time to get used to materials before beginning a graded activity?

Yes they have experience using databases.

Phase 4:

Logistics- How Do I Prepare the Classroom Environment and Instructional Materials?

· How many computers and copies of software will be needed to carry out the activities?

Eight computers readily available with Microsoft Access installed.

· How many computers and copies of software are available?

Eight computers readily available with Microsoft Access installed.

· Over what time period and for how long will technology resources be needed?

5th November2007 period 3 and 4. (Class could spill over into lunch time but it would not be a problem)

· Do I need to schedule time in a lab?

Yes I did.

· Have I checked out the legality of the uses I want to make?

Software is legal.

· Have I provided for students' privacy and safety?

Yes.
· Have I become familiar with troubleshooting procedures specific to the piece of hardware or software package being used (equipment and software manuals often list such procedures)?

Yes.

· Have I built in time to back up important files? Have I trained students to back up theirs?
Yes.

Do I have a backup plan if I cannot use the resources as I had planned?
Yes, hardcopies for each student. Session will have to be rescheduled if power fails.

Phase 5:

Evaluating and Revising Integration Strategies — How Do I Know It's Working?

· Have I identified instructional tasks? Yes.

· Have I identified types of evidence that will indicate to me whether or not the strategy is working? Yes,

The checklist will provide evidence that students are accomplishing the tasks.

· Have I used instruments to collect data on the impact of the activity?
Yes, student reflections, checklist, rubric.

For my own reflections.

· Have I considered alternative ways to set up equipment to make the activities go more smoothly?

· What do I need to change to achieve better impact?