Handling data at Key Stage 1
'Pick a Picture'

Pick a Picture is a simple pictorial database that allows Key Stage 1 pupils to undertake data handling activities. The program is produced by Black Cat Software and is now included in RM's Window Box.

It is easy for children at this age to understand as it is so visual. The only computer skills needed are clicking on the mouse and simple movement of the pointer.

How Pick a Picture works
There are 4 database topics: Ourselves, Homes, Weather, Minibeasts. Each child can enter data onto a record simply by pointing and clicking the mouse. All data is represented pictorially, so no reading is required, although some text is included.

Entering data

This is a record for Zoe in the Ourselves database. Her choices are shown in picture form. To make a choice, simply click the picture. This shows a pictorial menu for that field. Children choose from the pictures, click one and then click a tick to return to the record.

Viewing data

Children can see their choices one record at a time, or they can view the whole set of data as a list.

Making graphs

Information can be displayed as a block graph or a pictogram:

Answering questions

	Questions such as 'How many people like green?' can be answered with the search tool. Click the eyes, click the colour field and then click the green paint pot. A list is displayed.
	Questions such as 'Who is the youngest?' can be answered by sorting the data into age order using the sort tool. Click the cards, click the age field and click the tick. The records will now be in age order, from youngest to oldest.

Saving information

The program uses a very simple system of coloured dots instead of file names, so no typing is required. However the number of versions of each topic is limited.

Year R and 1 'Ourselves' activity

Working in pairs in our computer suite, the class were first introduced to 'Ourselves'. Children entered their information in the fields for Boy or Girl, Age, Pets, Favourite colour, Favourite food, Eye colour and Hair colour.

What the children did:

They clicked on the pencil at the bottom of the page to type in their names.
 Pupil 1 made choices. They clicked on the list icon and looked at the information, displayed as a row.
 They went back to their original data sheet and clicked on the red arrow at the bottom right.
 Pupil 2 made choices.
 Both pupils then looked at the two records, set out in rows.
 They clicked on the red arrow to get up another blank page.
 They played "musical computers", by moving onto the next computer and putting the same information onto that one.

On each computer, the pupils all now had 4 sets of information to look at. They were able to give simple answers to questions such as: What is the favourite colour? What food do people like most? How old are most people in the class? How many children have blue eyes?

Year 1 and 2 'Homes' activity

Year 1 and 2 completed the 'Homes' database. This gives excellent pictures of the different types of houses: detached, semi-detached, terraced etc. It also gives pictures of the different types of material for building them.

The same technique was used as before: musical computers (where the children enter the same data onto more than one computer), using 3 or 4 machines, so that each pair ended up with 6 or 8 rows of data. When looking at this data we were able to convert it into a pictogram of each attribute, i.e. type of house, type of material, garden, garage etc.

We then displayed the information as a block graph. Pupils then went back to their own classrooms. They took turns to enter their data onto the class computer, giving a full set of data. They were encouraged to think of questions that could be used to find things out from the data.

Year R and 1 'Weather' activity

Children typed in the weather results everyday for February on their classroom computer and then printed it out, so I could reproduce it in the computer suite. A pupil remarked on looking at the data: 'Do you know miss, we had 4 rainy days in a row, but then it was sunny before it rained again.'

We then put each weather category into a pictogram. This proved an excellent introduction for these pupils into easy data handling.

Summary

These four database activities are particularly suitable for all KS1 pupils. Year 3 pupils who have experienced very little data handling work also found it very helpful, especially when using the term 'fields' to each picture in an activity. The only drawback seems to be that work cannot be saved to disc under a unique filename. The data needs to be put onto the same PC for a full data base to be achieved and printed out.