Summary

Use the whiteboard activity to follow up work on adding information to databases. Explain that databases are only as good as the data that has been entered into them. Errors can be made and pupils need to check and question data that they come across. The activity can be used as a whole class demonstration or by small groups or individuals. Discussion needs to centre on a clear understanding of the vocabulary and the skills of reading graphs, identifying appropriate units of measurement, spotting patterns in data and those aspects that do not conform to a trend.

Suitable for

Year 4/5

Using a non-interactive whiteboard

Pupils can use the activity independently or in small groups on the computer. Guided work with the teacher can take place around a large screen monitor. The web pages could also be printed out and given to the pupils for analysis; encourage them to answer the multiple choice questions written up by hand on the board or on worksheets.

Prior learning required

Pupils can interpret bar charts and are familiar with the vocabulary "database", "field", "data" and "axis". Prior work could include looking at, making, discussing and searching a simple database and understanding the value of ICT in quickly being able to represent data in a number of ways.

Aims and objectives

  • Use a simple database.
  • Use and interpret graphs.
  • Recognise the importance of checking data.
  • Know that poor quality information leads to unreliable results.
  • Check data for accuracy.
  • Use inference to identify implausible data.
  • Identify errors and suggest suitable alternatives.

Timings

 Use the whiteboard activity as an introductory activity. Follow up with one of the group activities during the main body of the lesson.

Suggestions for group activities

  • Collect real information from cereal boxes and enter it into a database.
  • Make comparisons between the nutritional content of different brands and the products made by different manufacturers.
  • Interrogate the database to discover the overall healthiest cereal.
  • Work in groups on a topic and present findings in a digital format ? use presentation software and the database to illustrate and explain the information.

Suggestions for differentiation

  • Reduce the number of fields for pupils who are less confident with databases.
  • Ensure that the software used is age appropriate and consider using a simpler product for less able pupils or one with a clearer user interface for visually or perceptually impaired pupils.
  • Pair pupils with an ICT partner who can support them if they have difficulties.
  • Encourage more able pupils to decide on the subject and fields for a database related to their interests and to develop it using their own research.
  • Able pupils could build in errors to their database and ask a partner to try to spot the deliberate mistakes.

Further activities

  • Find out about sales of cereals and the most popular products.
  • Create graphs to illustrate your findings and present them to the class.
  • Compare the clarity of the information as represented in different graph forms; which type of graph is the best to show sugar content, which to show a manufacturer's share of the market?

Curriculum links

Information Technology
Select suitable information and media, and classify and prepare information for processing with ICT, checking for accuracy.

Maths

KS2 Handling data
Interpret tables used in everyday life

NNS Handling data year 5
Solve a problem by representing and interpreting data in tables, charts, graphs and diagrams, including those generated by a computer, for example: bar line charts, vertical axis labelled in 2s, 5s, 10s, 20s, 100s, first where intermediate points have no meaning (eg scores on a dice rolled 50 times), then when they may have meaning (eg room temperature over time)

 
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