1 – Intro to Databases

• Understand what a database is.
• Know some of the key words associated with databases.
• Be able to discuss advantages/disadvantages of paper and computerised databases.

• Database
• Table

• Field

• Record

• For each topic of work you should be creating new folders to make sure your work is easy to find and read.

1. Go to your Home Drive in File Explorer.
2. Open your Computer Science and then Year 8 folder.
3. Create a Folder called 3a Databases.

Make sure all work in this topic is saved to this folder.

• Download the worksheet and use the information below to complete it.
• Then upload it to the Silver badge task on Bourne to Learn.

Question: What do you think a database is?

• Paper based databases are not as common as they used to be, below are some examples. How many have you seen or used yourself?

Advantages of paper-based databases

1. Cheap to set up
2. Doesn’t need a power supply so you can use them in a power cut
3. You don’t need to buy an expensive computer to use them
4. Most can easily be carried around with you
5. You don’t need training to learn how to use them

Disadvantages of paper-based databases

1. They can be lost or misplaced
2. Very hard to make copies
3. Hard to correct mistakes made to data entries
4. Order or data can get muddled up. This is difficult to re-sort
5. Are hard to search and find specific data

Advantages of computer-based databases

1. Very easy to make back-up copies
2. Easy to update data and correct mistakes
3. Easy to sort data into order (alphabetical for example)
4. Very easy and quick to search for specific data
5. They can be secured with passwords

Disadvantages of computer-based databases

1. They can be expensive to set up (especially if you hire an expert)
2. They need power to run (won’t work during power cuts)
3. They need computers in order to run
4. They can be difficult to use so you may need training.

Your school stores lots of data about every student.

Write down 5 pieces of information that you think the school could store about you.

• Fields are used as places to store information held in the database, similar to a variable in programming.
• All of the pieces of information in the “possible answers” above are examples of a field.

Fields in another database

• Now write down 5 more fields that could be in a database for a video streaming service such as Netflix or Disney+.

• Records are stored within fields.
• A record is all the data about a single person or object.

Records in another database

• Write down some of the records we could store in each of the field names we looked at above in our streaming service database.

• All the fields and records are stored together in a table.

Database – collection of data or information that has been stored in an organised way.

Field – one type or one piece of information.

Record – all the data about a person or an object.

Table – collection of the database’s fields and records.

In this lesson, you…

• Looked at what a database is.
• Covered some of the key words associated with databases.
• Discussed advantages/disadvantages of paper and computerised databases.

In the next lesson, you will…

• Look at some examples of databases.
• Understand that one of the advantages of a computer-based database is the ability to search for data quickly.
• Know what data types are.
• Be able to choose the correct data types for specific items of data.

• Upload your completed Database Basics worksheet to the Silver badge task on Bourne to Learn.

• Download the Database Research worksheet below, complete it and then upload to the Gold badge task on Bourne to Learn.

• Download the Types of Databases worksheet below, complete it and then upload to the Platinum badge task on Bourne to Learn.