From 54df22efc17893a28b990a5ec9729b7252c21f15 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Greg Wilson Date: Fri, 29 Nov 2013 14:53:36 -0500 Subject: [PATCH] Instructor's guide for SQL --- sql/novice/guide.md | 56 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 56 insertions(+) create mode 100644 sql/novice/guide.md diff --git a/sql/novice/guide.md b/sql/novice/guide.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..705f9b5 --- /dev/null +++ b/sql/novice/guide.md @@ -0,0 +1,56 @@ +--- +layout: lesson +root: ../.. +title: Instructor's Guide +level: novice +--- +Relational databases are not as widely used in science as in business, +but they are still a common way to store large data sets with complex structure. +Even when the data itself isn't in a database, +the metadata could be: +for example, +meteorological data might be stored in files on disk, +but data about when and where observations were made, +data ranges, +and so on could be in a database +to make it easier for scientists to find what they want to. + +Teaching Notes +-------------- + +* The first few sections (up to "Missing Data") usually go very quickly. + The pace usually slows down a bit when null values are discussed + mostly because learners have a lot of details to keep straight by this point. + Things *really* slow down during the discussion of joins, + but this is the key idea in the whole lesson: + important ideas like primary keys and referential integrity + only make sense once learners have seen how they're used in joins. + It's worth going over things a couple of times if necessary (with lots of examples). + +* The sections on creating and modifying data, + and programming with databases, + can be dropped if time is short. + Of the two, + people seem to care most about how to add data (which only takes a few minutes to demonstrate). + + +* Overall, + this material takes three hours to present assuming that a short exercise is done with each topic. + +* Simple calculations are actually easier to do in a spreadsheet; + the advantages of using a database become clear as soon as filtering and joins are needed. + Instructors may therefore want to show a spreadsheet with the information from the four database tables + consolidated into a single sheet, + and demonstrate what's needed in both systems to answer questions like, + "What was the average radiation reading in 1931?" + +* Some learners may have heard that NoSQL databases + (i.e., ones that don't use the relational model) + are the next big thing, + and ask why we're not teaching those. + The answers are: + 1. Relational databases are far more widely used than NoSQL databases. + 2. We have far more experience with relational databases than with any other kind, + so we have a better idea of what to teach and how to teach it. + 3. NoSQL databases are as different from each other as they are from relational databases. + Until a leader emerges, it isn't clear *which* NoSQL database we should teach. -- 2.26.2