| Lesson Title: | European Database - Finding Information | ||
| Curriculum Area: | Social Studies | ||
| Technology Strand: | Database | ||
| Grade Level: | 6 | ||
| Essential Question: | How can I find information about European countries? |
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Activity Summary | This lesson can easily be taught in the classroom. Computers not needed for this lesson. Students will do sorting and filtering activities using basic information cards about each European country. Students will association database terms with this manual search procedure. |
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Curriculum |
Social Studies 1.02 Generate, interpret, and manipulate information from tools such as maps, globes,charts, graphs, databases, and models to pose and answer questions about space and place, environment and society, and spatial dynamics and connections. |
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Technology |
Database 3.03 Develop and use search strategies with two or more criteria to solve problems and make decisions in content areas. |
| Activating Strategies |
| Students will be given a country data card (record) with information about one country only. Students will be given two minutes to put themselves in alphabetical order (sort) according to the name of the country. Discuss the time it took to sort data card information in alphabetical order. Could they do it in 2 minutes? Were they correct or were some in the wrong order? Were they frustrated or pleased with their efforts? |
| Technology Vocabulary: Database Vocabulary |
| Detailed Technology Instructions: Microsoft Works for Windows Database Instructions |
| Cognitive Teaching Strategies |
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After the Activating Strategies: 1. Discuss how databases can make finding information easy and accurate. Discuss "ascending" and "descending order". Give the students five minutes to sort the information on data cards by lining up in descending order according to the field "Land Area SQ KM". 2. Discuss words that tell you to sort (to put things in order). Examples of these comparison words are: least, most, smallest, largest, latest, earliest, tallest, shortest, and greatest. 3. Discuss finding information when you are not looking to put it in order. Students can do this by using the filter. Have students with "grain" on their data cards as an important product stand up. Discuss which field (Important Prod.) they looked at and where grain was located in the field (at the first, middle or end of the text in the field). (Nine countries have grain as an important product). Then ask which countries have grain as an important product and as an import. (none) Which countries have grain as an important product or as an import? (Thirteen) Discuss the difference between "and" and "or" |
| Summary Strategies |
| Review the database terms that students learned in this lesson (record, field, sort, filter, connectors "and" and "or", comparison words -- greatest, least, etc.) |
| Resources Click for directions on how to download files on a Windows computer. |
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Microsoft Excel File Sort_Filter_1DB.xls Microsoft Works for Windows File Sort_Filter_1DB.wdb |
| Re-teaching and Enrichment Activities |
| Students may be encouraged to come up with questions that utilize the information on the database cards. Other filtering comparison activities that can use data card information include comparisons of planets (each student could have a set of nine cards to organize); or a limited number of cards with information on animals, plants, etc. Follow-up activities with the lesson: European Database - Sorting |
| Janice Bradburn |
| Prescott Technology Center, Data last modified: 8/12/2006 |