| Lesson Plan |
| Grade: |
Date: 25/02/2026 |
| Subject: Computer Science |
| Lesson Topic: Show understanding of the limitations of using a file-based approach for the storage and retrieval of data |
Learning Objective/s:
- Describe the main limitations of file‑based data storage, including redundancy, access speed, integrity, concurrency and security.
- Compare a file‑based approach with a DBMS using appropriate terminology and examples.
- Analyse how these limitations affect real‑world applications.
- Evaluate situations where a DBMS is required instead of a file‑based solution.
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Materials Needed:
- Projector and screen
- Whiteboard and markers
- Slide deck summarising limitations
- Handout with comparison table
- Sample text files (students.txt, enrolments.txt)
- Laptop with IDE for demonstration
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Introduction:
Begin with a quick poll: how many students have saved data in a simple text file. Review their experiences and link to prior lessons on data storage. Explain that today’s success criteria are to identify at least three drawbacks of file‑based storage and to articulate why a DBMS overcomes them.
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Lesson Structure:
- Do‑now (5'): Students list perceived advantages of file‑based storage.
- Mini‑lecture (10'): Present key limitations with slides and the comparison table.
- Guided analysis (10'): Work through the student‑management example to spot redundancy and update issues.
- Group activity (15'): Teams create a diagram contrasting file‑based vs DBMS and present one drawback each.
- Whole‑class discussion (10'): Consolidate findings; introduce indexing and query‑language benefits.
- Exit ticket (5'): Write one real‑world scenario where a file‑based approach would fail.
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Conclusion:
Summarise that file‑based systems suffer from redundancy, poor access speed, weak integrity, concurrency and scalability issues, all of which a DBMS resolves. Collect exit tickets as a retrieval check and assign homework to research a real application that migrated from files to a database.
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