Mastery Level Learning and the Art of Database Design

Database design is as much an art as it is a science. In order for students to become skilled enough to produce an effective design, they will need to achieve the synthesis level of Bloom's taxonomy. Given the effort involved in reaching that level, a constructivist approach must be used to teach the course. However, even using a project based approach may not be sufficient. Based on learning styles research, it can be shown that learners with a mastery level coping style will be more likely to stick with the process long enough to achieve the synthesis level than will learners with a helpless learning style. The process described in this paper incorporates many standard database teaching techniques, along with an innovative example and various pedagogical techniques to help the students adopt a mastery level mindset and achieve the necessary level of cognitive skill to effectively design databases.