Intro to Databases

What is a database and why do you need one?
50 States Quiz
Using the following websites or any others of your choice, how fast can you find the answers to Theresa's questions?
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/usa/states/
http://www.50states.com
http://www.shgresources.com/ (SHG = State History Guide)
http://www.imagesoft.net/flags/ it says it's about flags but there's much more info about each state in addition to the flags

Were you able to find the data you needed?
Was it organized the way you needed it?
How would you prefer it be organized?

Human Paper Database
Everyone pick 2 states (each state is only assigned to 1 person).
Fill out a State Information Card on each state.
Use the last 3 lines for your own favorite information about each of your states.

Vocabulary and Features of a Database
record = card on each state
field = categories on the card (state name, capital, population, state bird,...)
sort in ascending order
sort in descending order
creating a report (layout mode)
viewing a report (browse mode)
searching for records that meet a certain criteria (find mode)

Power of a Database
Access to information
Ability to organize information in a fashion of your choosing
Stories from the field... Renaissance people, class book reviews

Making Your Own Database--Preparation
Determine what kind of database you want. For this class, it can be personal or educational: address book, hobby inventory (Beanie Baby collection, baseball cards, stamps,...), lesson plans, favorite websites, DVD or CD inventory, ...
Gather the information you need--at least 10 records
Download and install FileMakePro 30 day free trial

Making Your Database
Define the Fields
Create a New Record
Find a Specific Record(s)
Look through Multiple Records
Create a Report

Tutorials in FileMaker Pro
Getting Started
 http://learngen.org/resources/leobjects/lg0008ta.html
Creating Layouts (FileMaker 3)
 http://www.wellesley.edu/Computing/Filemaker/filemaker4_tutorial.html
"Everything" (FileMaker 7) -- a 60 page .pdf file from FileMaker
 http://www.filemaker.com/downloads/pdf/fm7_tutorial.pdf
Tutorial Movies (FileMaker 7)
 http://www.vtc.com/products/filemaker7.htm

Thinking About Your Thinking
Make a table in Word with 2 columns and 6 rows.
In the first column, type the level's of Bloom's Taxonomy (Knowledge in the first row, first column, Comprehension in the second row, first column, then Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation).
Think about your experiences so far in designing, building, creating layouts in, adding records to a database. What cognitive thinking did you do and at what level of Bloom's Taxonomy was it?
In the second column of your table, list the experiences next to the appropriate level and explain how that experience was at that level.
This website may help you remember/apply the levels of Bloom's Taxonomy http://www.coun.uvic.ca/learn/program/hndouts/bloom.html