Promoting students' understanding of SQL in a database management course: A learning cycle approach

Abstract

SQL (Structured Query Language) is an important topic that can help students understand database management concepts because this language can be applied to solve problems, manipulate data, and extract meaningful information. One often finds teaching and learning of SQL difficult because of the abstraction of conditions, hard-to-understand queries and ill-defined errors. In traditional classes, the teachers describe each command, followed by an example from a textbook, while students remain passive. In this study, an SQL learning unit based on the learning cycle approach was developed to promote undergraduate students’ understanding. For each command, the students started by exploring a statement and were asked to predict and verify its outcome using Microsoft Office Access. Next, the command syntax was explained and the errors were discussed. Finally, the students performed their own task in couple or individually. Results from this study revealed that the proposed learning unit based on the learning cycle approach could help students to improve their understanding of SQL in a Database Management course. This research study provided a useful guideline for further the development of the learning unit.