1. By Job Alain King’s College London Research Question: Submit a report on a piece of teaching that you have planned, taught, assessed the learning and evaluated the teaching

2. Introduction  “In informatics education working with databases is considered is considered as matter either of basic ICT training or of informatics proper”. (Antonitsch P. K., 2006). Databases Informatics proper Basic ICT Data Design E-R modelling Normalisa tion -DBMS -RDBMS I knew from the inception stage that having to prepare materials and teach a whole database unit at A-levels was not a ‘piece of cake’.

3. Introduction ctd…  On one hand, Reading and understanding pedagogical and cognitive approaches surrounding the teaching of database management systems and other database application tools was going to require the skills for teaching ‘Basic ICT’ related training.  On the other hand, teaching the subject matter informatics focused on concepts and fundamental ideas of databases was going to require teaching and learning approaches related to de delivery of ‘informatics proper’. 1.Literature Review  topic covered 2.The lesson, the teaching and learning resources used 3.The Lesson evaluation based on our assessment of students’ learning 4.Lessons learnt and suggestions for improvements 5.Conclusion

4. The literature Review We explored a number of topics in our literature review  Database categorisation in relation to the wider informatics  Issues with teaching databases  Issues with learning databases  Possible solutions to the above issues with respect to teaching and learning  Assessment for learning and effective feedback

5. The Lesson; The teaching and learning resources used  This paper is based on the teaching of the first lesson on databases meant to cover some key database concepts such as the definition of database, different types of databases, definition of table, relation, field, attribute, columns, rows, records, the definition of flat file databases and good understanding of problems and limitations posed by flat files.  In addition to the literature review which helped us understand the various issues associated with the teaching of databases, there was a need to also understand the subject matter and to develop the teaching materials. In order to achieve that, we used a combination of web resources, books and our own experience to develop some teaching materials including: 1.Power point presentations  key concepts covered 2.Use of videos  To reinforce the teaching theory and understanding of concepts and account for the various types of learning (kinaesthetic, visual and auditory) 3.Range of activities: individual works, group discussions, peer assessment, interactive web tools 4.Use of questioning techniques  questions were thought after and designed to assess the ongoing learning and meet the learning objectives

6. Lesson Evaluation We completed a Lesson evaluation after the delivery of the lesson. Below are some outputs:  Extend to which the LO were met: From the teaching viewpoint, we believe the teaching objectives were met given that we were able to cover all the objectives that were set at beginning of the lesson. Each student, selected randomly responded well to a chosen question at the plenary thus indicating that learning objectives were also met  Problems encountered? No major problem encountered apart from a small technical issue whereby the sound was muted during the first video and required an intervention by the systems administrator.  What can be improved if that lesson were to be taken again? I would make a plan and think about other activities that I would discuss if things go wrong (e.g. a technical issue preventing the smooth delivery of my teaching) – for example: an activity to set in case the video does not play.

7. Lessons learnt and suggestions for improvements In the light of the literature and knowledge gained through this assignment experience, the suggestions for improvement provided in this section are not only applicable to the one lesson taught, nor to the specific subject area, but to the whole teaching and learning art. 1.It usually difficult to literally follow up step by step the guidelines setup in the lesson plan. What teachers have to improve is their understanding of the subject matter and a continuous awareness of their lesson progression in relation to the timing. 2.Consider spending time thinking about how you want to deliver each slide during your teaching. Slides could be categorised into the following 3 categories: (i)- Definition Slides, (ii)-Demonstration Slides and (iii)-Explanation Slides. 3.Draw a matrix of your detailed objectives at the start of your lesson plan and make sure that the various teaching parts of your lesson cover and address each objective. If all the objectives cannot be covered at the end of the lesson during the plenary session, the teacher should device the lesson so that the objectives are somehow covered during other activities to take place during the lesson

8. Conclusion  This study was meant: (i)-to develop awareness of the value of self-evaluation, (ii)-to develop understanding of how to evaluate lessons based on assessment of students’ learning, (iii)-to reflect on how to put theory into practice and to begin to think about how to use resources effectively for learning and teaching.  The following tasks were completed in order to respond to the research question  Literature review, and exploration of web resources  A lesson plan including the use of tools and features discussed earlier  A well structured lesson was designed and taught on databases  A self-evaluation of the lesson was completed  An official observation of the lesson was made by supervising teacher who filled an observation form  A set of recommendations and suggestions for improvement were made There is no doubt that this study has improved our knowledge on lesson preparation, teaching and learning with emphasis on assessment of students’ learning and the value of self-evaluation. An improvement to this study could be achieve by allowing trainee teachers the possibility to test students based on the lesson taught and mark the test and carry a summative assessment through the outcome of that test.

9. THANK -YOU