"When used as as Mindtool, a database management system helps students integrate and interrelate content ideas, which in turn makes the ideas more meaningful and memorable. To build the data model, students must first decide what the appropriate content relationships are. They must then search for the information in a systematic fashion in order to fill the database. The searching and sorting of the database required to answer queries can generate a variety of comparisons and contrasts based on which fields are selected for searching and sorting. Intellectually, these processes require the organization and integration of a content domain. Ultimately, you want students to create higher order questions based upon database relationships." 2
Plants in the Rainforest of the
Pacific Northwest
Olympic National Park
NPS Image - public domain
http://www.nps.gov/olym/edurain.htm
Logging or Conservation of
the Rainforest in the Pacific Northwest?
1 Jonassen, David H. (1999). Computers as Mindtools for Schools: Engaging Critical Thinking, 2 Edition.
2 Hurst, Carol. (1999). Math in Children's Literature, Data Gathering
and Analyzing. http://www.carolhurst.com/subjects/math/datagather.html
(Available 2003.6.12)
