Viewpoint
Datahandling for students

Viewpoint and The National Curriculum

The following is an exert from the Viewpoint Reference Manual explaining the possible role that Viewpoint can play in the National Curriculum.

• Introduction
• Ethical issues surrounding the use of data
• Data security
• Information handling skills
• Qualitative and quantitative data
• Viewpoint and The National Curriculum
• Links to Internet websites
• Example files
• Other useful websites
• Terminology
• What is a relational database?

Introduction

 

Information is so much more than facts and figures for today’s pupil. Life in the global village means we are bombarded with information. Pupils need to be able to work meaningfully within this overload, and it is this that makes Viewpoint such an astounding database program. It is user friendly, as well as being powerful enough to capture, store, manipulate, interrogate and use data in the way that pupils are required to do at school and will need to continue to do throughout their lives.

Ethical issues surrounding the use of data

Like all tools, this ability of computers can be put to good and bad use. George Orwell’s nightmare vision of a state with complete information control over its citizens is a real and present danger. Pupils need to be taught how information is gathered and have an awareness of the importance of the Data Protection Act in terms of our right to privacy. The Council of Europe adopted, in 1981, a Data Protection Convention, which led in the UK to the Data Protection Act 1984. This requires computer databases containing personal information to be registered and users to process only accurate information and to retain the information only for a necessary period and for specified purposes. Subject to certain exemptions, individuals have a right of access to their personal data and to have any errors corrected. The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) produce an interesting scheme of work about the Use and Misuse of Data stored by supermarkets through loyalty cards, doctors’ and dentists’ surgeries, the DVLA and many more commercial and state organisations (1). (Schemes of work produced by QCA can be downloaded, edited and used in schools and cover all Key Stages and subjects).

(1) See http://www.standards.dfee.gov.uk/schemes/

Pupils also need to know how to check the authenticity and accuracy of information; "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." (2) But the good uses of our new ability to store and access large amounts of data cannot be underestimated. It should allow all of us greater and certainly faster access to information, whether that is an on line train timetable (3) and prices of seats, the books on loan at our local library or the latest Home Office Crime Statistics. The way to begin using previously collected data is to unravel how and why it was originally collected. A collection of numerical data, for example, can be stored on a computer but it is the human mind that gives the figures meaning. Pupils will need to think, What do these figures show? What is the trend? Are there any marked exceptions? Can I show this information in a simple way, such as a graph or pie chart? It is also only the human mind that can put data to good use, and it is the teacher’s role to illuminate this as appropriate. "You cannot feed the hungry on statistics." (4) Pupils may of course wish to collect data and will then need to verify its accuracy. The QCA produce an interesting scheme of work based on researching new sports facilities for the school that covers this area. It is called Unit 5 Data: designing structure, capturing and presenting data. One of its tasks is to show pupils how software alerts operators to incorrect entry. Viewpoint will alert the operator by saying "12.4.00 is not a valid integer" for example. Each type of question (whether date or text etc.) will allow only the correct sort of data to be entered.

(2) Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) in his Autobiography. Source: Bartlett's Familiar Quotations. Little, Brown & Co. 1968

(3) http://www.rail.co.uk

(4) David Lloyd Goerge (1863 - 1945) British Liberal statesman. Advocating Tariff Reform. Speech 1904.

Data security

 

Precautions have been taken to prevent the loss or misuse of data in Viewpoint. Passwords are available, which will allow only authorised individuals to access certain data, or change certain data. This means Viewpoint is ideally suited to serving not only curriculum needs in school but administration tasks as required by teachers, librarians (5) and welfare officers. Pupil data can be stored, shared and amended by different individuals, and of course this data can include photographs of pupils. This makes Viewpoint a very cost-effective investment for any school.

(5) See Library Card in Admin File. See also Library Tutorial on this web site on how to create an effective Library management system using relational techniques in Viewpoint.

Information handling skills

Viewpoint has data for pupils to use, which has been collected in the past, such as the Census files. Viewpoint also allows pupils to design their own files, or to add to existing data by perhaps adding another question or simply more data. The National Curriculum places great significance on pupils’ ability to handle information through traditional methods as well as through ICT. Thinking skills such as evaluation require pupils to weigh up different pieces of information and make judgements on their merit. Pupils are also required to become proficient users of other types of stored information such as books and videos. A database program is no different from a card index system, simply bigger, more efficient, more accurate and much faster to access.

Nine steps can be identified as necessary for thorough information handling skills (6). They are:

1. Decide what information is needed.
2. Look for sources of information.
3. Select resources.
4. Retrieve information.
5. Process the information.
6. Record the information.
7. Review the task.
8. Present the information.
9. Evaluate the task

(6) Michael Marland (ed) Information Skills in the Secondary Curriculum (Schools Council Curriculum Bulletin:9, Methuen Educational, 1981)

Of course these steps are not linear, but rather form a continuous cycle; information-handling tasks can begin at any point of the cycle and may involve some or all of these skills. Viewpoint understands this and therefore allows the pupil to:

• Search easily for information on pre-loaded data.
• Prepare a template.
• Input data, including numbers, sounds, pictures and words.
• Organise the data and find patterns and connections.
• Present findings in a variety of forms.

Undertaking observations: (Look for sources of information)

Where will I find it? How do I collect it? How do I measure it?(Each household will receive a census form to fill in at a particular time.)

Organising the activity (Selecting resources)

Has anyone done anything similar? (Previous census forms.) Do I need to adapt or alter this? (Questions might be added or deleted.) Will I collect quantitative or qualitative data, or a mixture of both? (Some data may be very interesting but difficult to analyse statistically, such as people’s beliefs.) Should I do a pilot survey first, to test my questions? (It will be very expensive to distribute and collect questionnaires to every household.)

Storing and retrieving information

Where will I store information? (In Viewpoint!) Who can look at it? Does it need to be password protected? (Individual households’ completed forms will remain confidential

Analysing and Interpreting (processing information)

How do I frame a question or search? (What percentage of households are single-parent households and have a washing machine in London?) Is the information easier to understand in a pie chart or line graph?

Presenting and Communicating Information

Who is the audience? (Chiefly government and business.)Will it upset anyone? (Individual households will not be named.) How shall I present my main findings? (In tables and charts.)

Double or cross checking

Was my original hypothesis correct? What other research has been done which validates or contradicts my findings? (Smaller scale research projects.)

Evaluation

How could I have improved the quality, quantity or reliability of my data? (Were the questions unambiguous? What lessons do I need to learn before the next census? Is there a more efficient, more reliable or cheaper way to collect the same data?)

Viewpoint allows pupils to follow this process familiar to all researchers. By doing so, significant IT and thinking skills are developed. Now that computers have the capacity to store so much information, if we are to benefit from this, pupils need to be able to investigate it and manipulate it into a form which is meaningful. The speed at which Viewpoint will create a series of graphs with different variables means that pupils can quickly explore many different approaches. Graphs that are finally selected and presented will need careful commentary so that the audience reads the information correctly and easily. This process of research might be expressed as shown in the next diagram. The italic writing refers to the function in Viewpoint.

Viewpoint allows pupils to start new files, but Viewpoint has also been pre-loaded with useful data for reference, or to be amended or altered by pupils. As in the example above, relational database searches can combine the new and the pre-loaded. Should some pupils wish to use their local cemetery or graveyard as a source of information, Viewpoint already has some data on tombstones (see Burial Register in the RE folder). This can be combined with pupils’ own findings. To follow the model above, pupils might:

Raise questions

Although church attendance is falling, do most people still have religious symbols or text on their gravestones?

Undertake observations

Look at gravestones with dates ranging from 1900 to 2000 and count those with religious symbols or texts as well as those with factual information only, as well as those with a secular theme.

Organise the activity

Consider whether only looking at a graveyard will give a biased sample? Would it be possible to include gravestones from the local cemetery as well?

 

Design a template, using Viewpoint, that includes space for photographs or drawings, symbol analysis and text.

 

Look at relevant websites and books about gravestones and the meaning of commonly used symbols.

Store and retrieve the data

Write down notes ‘in the field’ and later input these into your Viewpoint file.

Analyse and interpret

Search for the number of secular gravestones with no religious symbolism as opposed to those with religious symbolism. Track these over the century in question to see if there is an increase in secular gravestones over time. Search for the most popular symbol and text. See if there is a bias towards men and women or children’s graves being of any particular type etc.

Present and communicate information

Share findings over Intranet with local schools or publish your findings on the school web page and ask for other schools to replicate the project to see if there are regional differences or similarities.Check that individual’s graves are anonymous and that children’s graves in particular are not displayed in photographs and published in a way that might cause distress to relatives.

Double or cross check
Review original hypothesis and evaluate the project.

Qualitative and quantitative data

"A single death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic." (8) Although this might appear true, without databases "information tends to be static. Using databases we can interrogate and analyse information…" (9).

In order to use Viewpoint’s powerful sorting and searching capacity to best effect, pupils need to know the difference between closed and open questions and when each style is best employed. A closed question will lead to a particular category and is easy to quantify; some depth of complexities however may be lost. Most of the questions in the example files are necessarily closed questions. Qualitative data will allow respondents to answer at length and in their own words. Within each table there is room for a comment box or image. The disadvantage of qualitative data is that we cannot look so easily for patterns and trends.

Quantitative data		Qualitative data
Closed questions		Open questions
Easy to convert into tables and charts		Hard to convert
Lacks individual depth		Allows more subjective responses

Viewpoint allows multiple-choice questions, of course, which help reduce the gap between purely numerical data and open-ended responses.

Viewpoint and The National Curriculum

 

Most pupils will arrive at secondary school with data handling levels of attainment of 3 or 4. However, for a variety of reasons, some pupils of secondary school age may be working towards this level. Therefore, the chart begins from Level 1. It also means that progression in data handling is clear. Some possible activities to match the levels are given, using the English File example.

Links to Internet Websites

Another strength of Viewpoint is that it has links to relevant Internet web sites. Pupils or teachers can of course add their own to data files. So how do you decide what is a good web site? The following is a checklist to help pupils and teachers decide.

 

 

 

You might also like to use the critique questionnaire Educational Websites, which can be found in the ICT folder.

Example files

Viewpoint is supplied with example files and questionnaires that have been produced with the new National Curriculum 2000 in mind. Many schools teach ICT across the curriculum and although there are specific ICT activities too, for those teachers who wish to teach data and information handling skills through the medium of their subject there follow some teaching ideas based on a selection of the file

English
There are two example files in the English folder:

• English File
• Library

The English File – (11) has been prepared by an English specialist. This analyses text in depth and encourages pupils to add their own reviews of their reading. "Interaction may be face-to-face or by electronic means" states the National Curriculum. Viewpoint gives a rich forum for "exploring hypothesising, debating analysing" (12).

(11) EN2 Reading, pages 49-51, The National Curriculum 2000

(12) EN1 Speaking and listening, 10, page 48, National Curriculum for English, 2000

The Library survey is a good example of how Viewpoint can be used to solicit and sort information. The process is simple and can be applied to a wide range of topics.

Administration example files

There are three example files in the Administration folder:

• First aid
• Library card
• School Example

The Library card is ideal for a library borrowing system, and is a good example of the use of a photograph within a database. This, along with the School Example can be adapted for the welfare officer within a school, reception staff and teachers so that they can quickly identify pupils and add names to faces.A sample certificate First Aid has also been provided to give you an idea for other uses of the Viewpoint form design.

Mathematics

There are eleven example files in the mathematics folder:

• Africa
• BS1930 Atwork
• BS1930 Census
• BS1930 Events
• BS1930 Traffic
• Cycle
• Greece
• Iceland
• North America
• South America
• The Estate Agency

Of course, all the example files supplied with Viewpoint could be used in maths. However, the above have plenty of numerical fields that can be analysed statistically. In addition, their information is ideal for being displayed graphically.

Graphs are easy and quick to create, from the very simple to the complex. When pupils ask what is the clearest way to communicate information, and can experiment on screen until they are satisfied they have found it; mathematical thinking skills are being developed.

There is a great deal of data on earthquakes (Greece, Iceland, North America and South America) to which pupils can add their own reports with up to date links available on the Internet.

The Estate Agency file has 100 houses on its books. By doing simple sorting and graphing, such as shown below, interesting facts are thrown up. There seems to be little difference in price between three and four bedroomed homes, if taken as a comparison between the difference between a two and three bedroomed property.

Pupils could explore this example file in some of following ways:

• Find property reference number 77. The bungalow has been sold. Please delete the record.
• Property reference 27 has decided to split the one bedroom, which is very large, into 2 to speed up the sale. Please amend the record.
• A businesswoman insists she must be near the motorway. She can afford up to £200,000. How many houses are available to her for viewing?
• She doesn’t want a bungalow or a flat. What choices does she have?
• A local family has won the Lottery! What is the most expensive house they can buy?
• A family really needs a double garage and 3 bedrooms. How much should they expect to pay? What way should the estate agent present this information to them for maximum simplicity?
• Find out the average price of different types of properties and display in a graph.

In what ways might a computer database improve the quality of information available for the estate agent and the purchaser and seller?

Pupils can add to this database, or set one up of their own, based on local property information easily available in newspapers. They could then carry out their own investigations, for example by looking at prices in different districts, suburbs, or villages in their own area.

Science

Science has a wealth of example files to help the Science Teacher. There are sixteen example files in the Science folder:

• Animal Kingdom
• Asteroids
• Foods
• Habitats
• Materials
• Minerals
• Moons
• Natural Forces
• Nutrients
• Periodic Table
• Planets
• Plants and Animals
• RDAs
• Solar System
• Vitamins
• Weather

Sc2 ‘Life processes and living things Humans as organisms (Nutrition)’

Viewpoint provides five files on Diet and Nutrition (Foods, Minerals, Nutrients, RDAs and Vitamins). The National Curriculum suggests at 2a (Nutrition) "pupils could use databases to record, analyse and evaluate information about diets." (13) The Foods example file contains 125 foods, analysed in detail, from almonds to yoghurt. This means that pupils can quickly and easily begin scientific investigations into what constitutes a balanced diet. This is complimented by the Recommended Daily Allowances (RDA) file for groups in the UK, broken down by age and sex and type of work. Since there are also files on Nutrients, Minerals, and Vitamins, which show the food they are found in and what they are needed for, pupils may enjoy working out a balanced diet for them both now and in thirty years time, given a certain occupation.

(13) Page 106

The QCA suggests that teachers "help pupils to frame appropriate questions to investigate, e.g. Which foods contain starch and fat?". Pupils can also be encouraged to use Viewpoint to create and interpret graphs.

Animal Kingdom has 140 animals from Adder to Woodlouse, sorted into major taxonomic groups but classified by their adaptation as well. Detailed classification includes the ways in which the animal defends or attacks.

Sc3 ‘Materials and their properties - Classifying materials’ (15)

(15) Page 108

The Materials example file contains information on 51 materials from air to zinc.

Sc4 ‘Physical processes – Forces and motion’

The Natural Forces file has 41 sheets that will help pupils understand forces.

Present pupils with a set of cards containing a series of statements, for example:

• Friction always slows things down.
• Shoelaces stay tied because of friction.
• Friction is useful to gymnasts.
• Matches light because of friction.
• Cars need friction to keep moving.

Ask pupils to say if they are true/partly true/false. Pupils can search the database for all the references to friction. Discuss answers with the pupils and draw out the idea that friction is often helpful. Emphasise the importance of friction in walking and for wheeled vehicles, e.g. by showing a video clip of cars, people on ice or of vehicles stuck in sand. Show pupils pictures/examples of the treads on tyres and ask them to suggest how they work, or ask them to write a story of imagination, 'A world without friction'. Ask half the class to produce their own set of cards about gravity, and the other tension for example, and repeat (16).

Sc3 ‘Materials and their properties – The periodic table’ (17)

Later in this manual, pupils are guided through the creation of a periodic table datafile for themselves, into which they import data from a CSV file. A finished ‘here is one we prepared earlier’ version is supplied here.

‘Physical Processes - The Earth and Beyond’ (18)

(16) Adapted from QCA scheme of work at http://www.standards.dfee.gov.uk/ site

(17) Page 117 and Page 128

(18) Pages 111, 120 and 13

There are 4 Solar System files (Asteroid, Moons, Planets & Solar System).

Two Environment files (Habitats & Weather) and a file on Plants and Animals complete the collection of files for Science.

Craft Design and Technology (CDT)

There are four example files in the CDT folder:

• Clothes
• Foods
• Materials
• Nutrients

The Clothes example file has been created by a Textiles teacher to help pupils with their research and understanding of different types of materials. Pupils can find out the properties of materials for themselves, prompted by the questions in the example file. When pupils create their own databases to store information, information can be shared quickly by the whole class. The pupils could, for example, research the cost of each material and add this to the database too.

Pupils will then be able to model different versions of a design and compare features, such as cost or sensory characteristics. Ask them to practise the analysis of information.

Discuss with the pupils the advantages and disadvantages of using ICT to analyse information (19).

(19) Adapted from QCA scheme of work at http://www.standards.dfee.gov.uk/ site

Useful Websites include:

http://www.design-council.org.uk/
Logotron has a Windows software program called Design ImageBase that is a comprehensive and fascinating database of 2,400 captioned images to inspire and inform activities in Art, Design and Technology. It is an excellent resource of classics in design and an essential component to every D&T department.

http://www.data.org.uk/
The Design and Technology Association (DATA) is the recognised professional association that represents all those involved in design and technology education. It is also an educational charity and a company limited by guarantee. The objective of the association is to "promote the advancement of education and in particular but not exclusively to support, encourage, promote, develop and maintain design and technological education in all its branches." DATA is committed to securing, developing and enhancing design and technology in all sectors of education…

http://www.dtonline.org/
The D&T Online information pages all have a similar structure. They are all designed to give you useful information on the various topics covered by D&T Online, using a combination of text, pictures and animations.

http://www.nutrition.org.uk/
The British Nutrition Foundation has developed a new resource, entitled 'Food Technology', for pupils aged 11-16. It has been devised under guidance of experienced educationalists and is designed to integrate with UK curriculum requirements. Recently the unit has been through an extensive school based trial throughout the UK. The guidance notes give examples of how some schools have used many of the resources from the 'Food Technology' unit to promote high quality work in the classroom.

ICT

There are three example files in the ICT folder:

• Address Book
• Educational Websites
• Web Notes

Address Book is a blank template that pupils (or administration staff) could add to and adapt for their own purposes.

As seen earlier, Educational Websites encourages pupils to add sites of their own and analyse them in some detail. Some interesting sites compiled for the teacher’s use can be found in Web Notes.

History

There are nine example files in the History folder:

• 1861 Census
• Glinton 1891 Census
• Inventions
• Monarchs
• Prisoner
• SWW 1939
• SWW Airwar
• SWW Industry
• SWW Ships

Databases enable pupils to interpret historical evidence that is in the form of numbers or statistics; this encourages pupils to form and test hypotheses. These databases allow pupils to search by keyword or date for an event or person. They also contain written and visual information about the events or people listed.

The Monarchs datafile details every British Monarch since Saxon times. A total of 107 entries. There are fantastic opportunities for ‘trivia’ quiz questions here. How many monarchs were not crowned at Westminster Abbey? Whose reign lasted the longest? Who gained the throne as a ‘usurper?’ How many monarchs were female? How many married more than twice? This will be an extremely useful database for pupils studying Unit 2 (Year 7) How did medieval monarchs keep control? What challenges did medieval monarchs face? What qualities did they need to be successful?

Pupils could search the ways people became monarchs and the fact that there was no certainty they would be able to do the job. Emphasise the importance of accidents of birth and gender in determining who ruled. The database gives options of ‘chosen heir, natural heir, usurper, winner of battle’.

Ask pupils to compare the advice and tease out common factors that should lead to a successful monarch. They could do this by analysing how long monarchs reigned, how they were disposed (death, deposed, abdicated), and who succeeded them. This will give pupils a good basis to discuss the qualities needed to be a successful monarch. One factor might be the country of origin, as shown in the graph on the next page, but pupils can explore the variants to success through the powerful graphing facilities.

The Inventions file is explored later in this user guide where it is used in the example for data entry.

A village census of 1861 (1861 Census) provides a fascinating snapshot. "There is no history of mankind, there are only many histories of all kinds of aspects of human life. And one of these is the history of political power. This is elevated into the history of the world." (20) The village can come to life, once pupils start to interrogate the data collected 150 years ago.

(20) Karl Popper (1902-) Austrian-born British philosopher. The Open Society and its Enemies.

Pupils can search how many visitors there were in the village and make probable deductions as to why they were there. How many people lived at 21 Tang House and who were they? What happened to the old people? How many housemaids lived in the village? What was the ‘grand house’ called? Where were villagers born? Why would so many people ‘not know’ where they were born? Pupils can use the data to search and analyse such information.

There are also 4 Second World War files (1939, Airwar, Industry and Ships) which will support ‘A world study after 1900’ or GCSE courses.

One of the most interesting example files is Prisoner. "History is the essence of innumerable biographies. This would be useful for a historical enquiry." (21) This is an extremely detailed set of data taken from original records of Huntingdon County Gaol.

(21) Page 150, Programme of Study for History in NC 2000

Lucy Jolly, aged 13, for example, was convicted of stealing 4 shillings and sentenced to 1-month hard labour and four years at reformatory school in Toxteth, Liverpool. It was her first offence.

Geography

There are eight example files in the Geography folder:

• Cherry Hinton Census
• Cherry Hinton People
• Counties
• Countries file
• Country
• Shopping Survey
• Weather
• World Economies

The Countries file holds data on countries from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. This will be invaluable for the study of two countries as it lists literacy levels, GDP, infant mortality and so on. The people per doctor figure is particularly striking for its stark variation across the globe.

35 countries have their economies broken down in the World Economies example file.

There is also a study of Cherry Hinton (Cherry Hinton Census & Cherry Hinton People). 63% of residents were born in Cherry Hinton, 4% from the nearest town, Cambridge, and the rest mainly from local villages (although one was born in Yorkshire). How would the birthplace of residents in Cherry Hinton vary from this today, compared to 1851, and why?

The Counties file uses Viewpoint in a slightly different way which pupils might want to replicate in a database of their own, perhaps based on a world map and a selection of data from the Countries file.

Modern Languages

There are example files, in the Modern Languages folder, for each of the languages: French, German, Spanish and English.

English is included for those who do not have it as their first language. These basic questions are the type pupils will encounter on an exchange visit and are useful preparation for oral examinations. Pupils might want to send these by email to twin schools for completion and return.

Art

This database contains biographical details on twenty popular artists. Pupils can use this as a starting point for further research as each file has an Internet link to a relevant and interesting site. Pupils and teachers can of course add and amend the template to research different cultures and periods in Western European art.

Music

There are two example files in the Music folder:

• Composers
• Musicians

The Composers file can be used as a starting point for a project on your favourite composers. Use the Internet and other points of reference to extend and expand the file.

Musicians is a form for your school orchestra or choir. What talents do you have at your school?

Physical education (PE)

There are three files in the PE folder:

• Exercise Survey
• Sports Day
• Sports Facilities

Exercise Survey has an historical aspect, as it will be possible for pupils to investigate how people’s habits have changed over the years. This could prove a useful homework task and enable pupils to analyse patterns of exercise.

Sports Facilities is a questionnaire designed to find out about sports facilities available in your area.

Sports Day will allow pupils to record and track individual progress, hypothesise who should be included in the Athletics team, and ‘set…personal and group targets in a range of athletic events, challenges and competitions".

Citizenship

This new subject has data on election results since 1900 (Elections).

Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE)

There are four example files in the PSHE folder:

• Cycle
• Housing
• Invite
• Journey to school
  

Religious education

There are six example files in the RE folder:

• Africa
• Burial Register
• Countries File
• Festival 1
• Festival 2
• Movers and Shakers

Africa shows the change in adherents to traditional religious beliefs over time and place. These figures hide a trend that pupils can discover and discuss. Why have adherents fallen in number more in some regions than in others? Does this have anything to say about the decline of religious affiliation in the West? How is adherence measured, and can ‘belief’ be measured? Does all worship have to be public?

The Burial Register for 1798 –1812 for Adel could form a basis for comparison with a local graveyard. Adel’s shows death at the following ages:

This could be extended by research along the lines discussed earlier in this guide.

The Countries File has been included to allow investigations into the religious affiliations, literacy rates and so on in countries around the world.

Festivals are a part of life (Festival 1 and Festival 2) and this data is intended as a first step to finding out why celebrations are held and how these alter for each culture that recognises them. Festivals are complex, culturally bound, and shared by devout believers and secular hangers-on alike. In India, Hindus and Sikhs share temples and deities; perhaps there is just one god and lots of different ways of worshipping god. Pupils may enjoy unravelling what can be separated and what should be joined. These databases will certainly give them food for thought.

There is also a database that pupils can complete for themselves entitled Movers and Shakers. This asks key questions about a person’s life and is broad enough to form a basis for research on any spiritual hero or heroine. A website from TIME magazine will aid this work. Pupils can download and add picture files or sound files to their data as appropriate.

Other useful websites include:

http://www.catholic.org/saints/
This is a collection of facts and information concerning Saints and Angels on the Internet. The Saints Index is an exhaustive list of Saints that contains all known information pertaining to each Saint. There is also information about this week ’s Saints, general FAQ is about Saints, Patron Saints, and a Feastday List. This site also provides a Saints Search feature that will help you locate a specific Saint quickly and effectively by name or other search criteria. Have a question about a Saint? Join Catholic Online's Comprehensive Interactive Forum.

• A simple page produced by primary school children about Guru Nanak.

• Comprehensive coverage of the lives of the Sikh gurus.

• A web site dedicated to Martin Luther.

• A brief over view of Muhammad (p.b.u.h.).

• An excellent source on Jerusalem - covering Jewish, Christian and Islamic history. The site can be searched by topic and date and presents the history by focusing on everyday things as well as key people and places.

• Mohandas Gandhi

• Martin Luther King
  
• Nelson Mandela
  
• Anne Frank

• Muhammad Ali
  
• Mother Teresa

Other useful Websites

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/
This site contains the latest comprehensive range of official UK statistics and information about statistics as well as providing free access to a selection of recently released publications in downloadable pdf format.

http://www.standards.dfee.gov.uk/schemes2/secondary_ICT/

This contains schemes of work produced by the QCA.

http://www.rail.co.uk/ukrail/planner/planner.htm

This Railtrack Timetable Planner is a database that compares favourably with the old book-based timetable in terms of speed, accuracy and efficiency. It is a good example to use to explain how databases work to pupils.

http://www.m-a.org.uk/

Mathematical Association.

http://www.atm.org.uk/

Association of Teachers of Mathematics.

http://neic.usgs.gov/

World-wide information about earthquakes.

Terminology

In common with other computer software, databases have their own set of terms and phrases, or ‘jargon’. This section tries to explain some of that jargon.Most computer software is designed to perform tasks that, on the whole, were performed manually before computers were introduced. For example, word processors draw heavily on typewriter terms such as tab, carriage return, and linefeed. A database is a computerised way of storing and using records, such as those you may keep in a card index box. Databases use terms such as ‘file’, ‘record’, and ‘field’ familiar from conventional filing methods. Using the same terms for both systems often helps us to understand what the computer software is doing. This guide refers to records and fields. An example will make the difference between these clear. Consider a manual filing system.

Imagine that you want to keep information on all the pupils in a school. You could keep that information on sheets of card, one sheet per pupil. Each sheet could contain information such as the pupil’s name and address, doctor’s notes and so on. Each sheet would therefore be a record. You could have record cards printed with labelled boxes for each item of information, such as ‘Surname’ and ‘Date of birth’. These boxes would be the fields. Each field holds a single piece of information.

All the records could be stored in one large filing cabinet. In a simple (non-relational) database, all the records would be kept in one drawer in the filing cabinet. To help you to quickly find any record or add new records, a sorting system could be used to arrange them. The records might be sorted first by year, then by class and finally each class could be arranged alphabetically by surname. If two or more pupils in a class shared the same surname, they could be arranged in alphabetic order of first name. This way, if you wanted to find the record card for Mary Jones, class B, in year 4, it would not take too long.

A database is an electronic equivalent of this type of filing system. You can design your own record cards, containing fields of information. You can get the computer to sort the records, and find specific records. For instance, it is just as quick to find records of all the girls in year 4, as it is to find only the record for Mary Jones.

However, the computer and database software are much more flexible than a paper filing system. You can rearrange the entire set of records or database. You can alter the record layouts and add fields at any time. You can change how the records are sorted, instantly find records, and even draw graphs based on the information in your records.

What is a relational database?

With a relational database, such as Viewpoint allows you to create, you can store more complex structures of information. Instead of just the information that could be held on one set of index cards, you can store information that in a paper-based system would be held in different card systems with links between the records in the different systems. Extending the example illustrates how this might work.

As well as information about students, you might have a separate set of information about courses. So, if you knew that Mary Jones was enrolled on a maths course, you could quickly call up information about the maths course even though this is stored separately.

A set of information (i.e. a set of fields) is called a table. A relational database may hold several tables with links between them. This is like having your sets of records in different drawers of the filing cabinet. A relational database allows us to find or display information from different sources and put it together in interesting, productive and informative ways. The potential of a relational database is vast – it can give you a powerful way of managing and exploring information.

Conventionally, software that manages data in this way is referred to as a Database Management System (DMS). However, the term ‘database’ has come to be used interchangeably for both the management software and the data. This guide endeavours where possible to make the distinction between the software system and the information held.