If you are one of those rare high schools across the country that uses Microsoft Access to teach relational database principles, you might want to try using a simplified approach when conveying the main idea behind these principles.

By this, I mean that for years we have been seeing textbooks recommend that only through the creation of complicated tables, queries, and reports do students develop an understanding of how databases function in the Access database environment.

In reality, this is probably the worst way to help students understand how relational databases function. A more simiplified approach is often needed. Students often grasp what you mean when you use a 40 minute class to demonstrate how to set up a simple coin, comic, or baseball card collection.

The key is to focus on presenting a shortened table, an abbreviated query, and finally a report using the wizard function. This really makes the most sense and within 10 to 15 minutes shows students exactly what access is used for in the world of work.