Unit 2E: Questions and answers Section 4: SHORT FOCUSED TASKS
Objectives
Children should learn:
key idea: that some questions can have only one possible answer from a selection and others can have more than one answer from a selection
key idea: that a database provides a means of storing information and can be searched
technique: to use the search tool to find the answers to simple questions
Activities
Outcomes
Children:
Discuss other types of questions and answers with the children. Refer to the original set of questions generated by the children. Perhaps one question might be, How many windows has your house - three, four, five, six or seven? This type of question has only one possible answer from the list. Have some samples of questionnaires available that use this type of question.
Point out that questions can also be posed which are answered more easily by using a tick-box approach, where more than one choice may be appropriate, eg Does your house have a chimney, a garden, central heating, an upstairs, a garage, a satellite dish?
Show the children a simple completed database (based on the information provided by the children) and demonstrate how the search tool enables specific questions to be answered. Encourage children to ask their own questions and see if they can use the search tool to find out the answers. Provide a simple aide-memoire to illustrate the process of asking questions using the search tool. Draw up a short list of questions from those suggested by the children with a simple means of recording their answers.
know that this type of program is called a database and it can be used to find out the answers to questions
use the search tool to find answers to simple questions
Points to note
Children will need access to a selection of prepared data files with a limited number of fields and a limited number of records. They will probably need to repeat this activity on a number of occasions.
Teachers will need to prepare the data files in advance. The children could enter the data.
This unit is divided into sections. Each section contains a sequence of
activities with related objectives and outcomes. You can view this unit by
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