Databases as a tool of general education

Abstract

In informatics education working with databases is considered a matter either of basic ICT training or of informatics proper. This paper points at conceptualization as common ground to both of these seemingly different approaches. It presents a new concept of database instruction, based on the process of structuring. While current didactical concepts centre either on mastering the database program or on database design, the proposed approach is motivated by the primary aim of databases to facilitate information retrieval. It suggests development of structure awareness by starting with analyzing and querying ready-to-use databases provided by the teacher. This offers new aspects of database instruction and emphasizes the ability of databases to contribute to general education as well. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2006.