With the pervasive role played by databases in our society and the increased demand for students with interdisciplinary skills, the next challenge for educators is the design of database curriculum suitable for a variety of majors. This challenge is consistent with the enhanced awareness of computational thinking, which introduces computational methods and models to non-computing majors. The objective of this project is to develop a collection of learning materials to support student learning of relational databases. The collection includes student learning outcomes, engaging animations and several cooperative learning exercises. This project has the potential for significant impact on the future workforce by providing students with the necessary understanding of data and the exchange of data in order to solve problems in our information-centric society.
Databases are important in many disciplines for the storage and retrieval of information. However, database courses are typically only available as an elective for computer science undergraduates at an upper-level. The goal of this project is to introduce relational database concepts to students of many majors through animations using a visual and dynamic presentation with images and color. Two animations have been developed: one to introduce what databases are and a second to introduce how to query or retrieve the information stored in a database. The first animation, Introduction to Databases, uses the concepts of spreadsheets, which are familiar to most people, to present at a conceptual level what a database is and how it is different from, and, in an important way, superior to, a spreadsheet. Although spreadsheets are quite useful, there can be problems with inserting, updating, or deleting information from spreadsheets that store repeated information. These problems, known as anomalies, can be avoided when the data are broken down based on separate concepts into smaller parts called tables, which look like spreadsheets. Relational databases use these tables to store related information without unnecessary repetition and provide support for efficient, shared access to this persistent data. These separate tables are related by information shared across the tables. A primary key is a column (or combined columns) in a table whose value uniquely identifies a row in one table. When a primary key appears in another table to support a relationship between the tables, it is called a foreign key. The use of the primary and foreign key relationships to answer a question is illustrated using an example, which is based on students, courses, and the relationship of students taking courses. The second animation, Introduction to Querying, builds on the concepts introduced in the first animation to present the design and development of questions, called queries, over a relational database. The design of a query starts by determining the tables needed to answer the query and examining the primary-foreign key relationships between the tables. The animation then introduces the types of operations that allow the manipulation of the data, such as filtering the data to choose only some rows or columns and combining the data based on the table relationships. The SQL industry-standard query language is presented by combining a visual query design with the textual query. The goal is for educators in diverse academic disciplines to incorporate the animations in their existing courses. To support this goal, the animations are customizable to different domains. This project provides customizations of the animations for two disciplines: Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Computational Molecular Biology (CMB). The GIS customizations use a scenario of South American countries, rivers, and the length of a river when it traverses a given country. The CMB customizations use a scenario of specimen samples of Mus musculus (mouse) classified by subspecies and sequenced genes. The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) Taxonomy ID identifies the type of specimen, and the sequenced genes are identified by the symbol with a reference to the NCBI link for that gene. These customized animations can be incorporated in domain-specific courses to introduce databases within the context of that discipline. Students should have the ability to explore the animation at their own pace to engage the visual senses and to allow for replay opportunities. The attached figures show screen shots of the animations, including customized animations. The animations and customizations are available on the project Web site (http://databasesmanymajors.faculty.asu.edu/) along with supporting curriculum materials. Various classes at the collaborative institutions have used the animations, including courses for majors, non-majors, Geographic Information Systems, and Computational Molecular Biology. The Web site will also serve as an ongoing resource for further customizations to other domains. The animations have been demonstrated at a number of venues, including national and regional computer science education conferences, and disseminated as a collection on the Ensemble Computing Portal (www.computingportal.org/). The animations have the potential for substantial impact, since a primary objective of this research is the transfer of database knowledge and skills to a wider audience. This research is contributing to the development of human resources by introducing students of many majors to database technology, providing opportunities for employment, especially in the many positions in which interdisciplinary skills are advantageous.
