Free Databases and Data Visualisations course for kids Week 7

Yesterday I gave the results for the database fundamentals test that was conducted last Monday. If anyone wants to try the test you can click here
 #microsoftnz, #sqlserver,  #sqlfamily

I started off the class with an introduction to Data Visualisation.  Why we need data visualisations and type of data visualisations.  Also covered different tools for data visualisations. Finally I introduced what Power BI Desktop is. hashtag#powerbi, hashtag#powerbiusergroup.

Had an interactive session with a lot of questions from the kids like 'What is a Heat Map ?' 'What is the difference between pictorial and graphical presentation' etc.

Shared a movies csv file and introduced the Get Data button in Power BI Desktop and got all of them to download the movies database.  Explained how to create the main visuals -- the column chart and stacked bar charts.  What kind of columns can be used in the Values part of the visuals.
Gave them homework to create their own visuals and present them in the next class.
I have also asked them to download the country latitude and longitude dataset that is available here
https://lnkd.in/gN72ccD by using the Get Data -- web button with a view to teach them about Maps in the next class.

I am looking forward for their creations next week.

Free Databases and Data Visualisations course for kids Week 6

Week 6 update:

Yesterday the class was a bit different because it started off with a Database Fundamentals test.  There were 20 questions to answer that covered all the database concepts that were covered in the last 5 weeks.  If you would like to answer the questions yourself, the questionsare here. #microsoftnz,#sqlserver, #sqlfamily

15 kids and 2 adults took part in the test. I have marked the answers and am very pleased with the results which are as below:
 2 of the kids acheived 100 %
 4 kids achieved between 90% and 100%
 3 kids between 70% and 80%
 3 kids between 55% and 65%
 3 kids achieved 45 %.  These are the kids who joined after 3 weeks and they did not have sql server to practice at home as they had MAC and Chrome books as their devices.

After the test we discussed the answers for the questions.  Then I covered the topic on Table joins.  Below is a photo of the kids smiling after the test.

From next week I will be teaching them Data Visualisation using Power BI #powerbi, #powerbiusergroup.  I will be designing the course with the help of @reza rad book power-bi-from-rookie-to-rockstar  and @marco russo and @alberto ferrari's book- Introducing Microsoft Power BI .

Any help in designing the course with kids in mind is highly appreciated.

Free Databases and Data Visualisations course for kids Week 5

Week 5 update:

It was another full house yesterday with 17 kids and 4 parents attending the course. #sqlfamily #microsoftnz 

The first 20 minutes were spent in solving issues with questions like --
- 'I created a table but I cannot see it'
- 'I am getting a syntax error'

After this, when I did the recap of what happened last week, I was pleased to see most of the kids eagerly answering my questions regarding update and delete statements. They were keen to discuss some of the SQL functions I covered  There was a bit of difficulty in understanding the substring function. But finally everyone understood this function.

One of them wrote a substring function by passing her name as the first argument instead of the field name and tried to return a substring of her name which was quite impressive.

Free Databases and Data Visualisations course for kids Week 4

Databases and Data Visualisations course for kids aged between 11 to 15 years week 4 update. It was another full house on Monday with 16 kids and 4 parents attending the course. #sqlfamily #microsoftnz  This time a uni student Sakshi came to help.

The first 45 minutes were spent in solving issues with questions like --
- 'I created a table but I cannot see it'
- 'Why is my insert statement not working ?'
- 'I have inserted a lot of duplicate records.  How do I delete them ?'
- 'I am getting a syntax error'

After this, when I did the recap of what happened last week, I was pleased to see most of the kids eagerly answering my questions. I felt that now all the kids are able to genuinely understand what I am trying to teach them.

The agenda for this week was to explain the update and delete statements.  The Like and In operators in the where clause.  Some of the basic SQL functions like Min, Max, Count, AVG, SUM.  String functions like Left, Right and Substring.

It is interesting to see how some of the kids think.  One of them asked what if we accidentally deleted all records ?  Then I covered the Begin Transaction, rollback and commit features which I didn't even plan to cover as I thought that will be deeper and difficult for them to understand.

As usual I felt very happy to see the enthusiasm in these kids. I am looking forward for the session on next Monday.