IB Computer Science A3.2.1: Database Schemas

Teach conceptual, logical and physical database schemas with an 80-slide IB Computer Science SL & HL presentation for A3.2.1, first assessment 2027.

Help students distinguish the three schema levels and explain how each contributes to database design. Students follow a sales system involving customers, products and orders from a high-level design through to a database implementation.

The presentation introduces schemas, distinguishes schema from stored data, and explores security, integrity, performance and scalability. Conceptual design covers entities, attributes and relationships. Logical design covers tables, fields, data types, keys, constraints and normalization in a DBMS-independent context. Physical design uses MySQL examples to illustrate exact data types, field lengths, NOT NULL, AUTO_INCREMENT, indexes and partitioning!

Included:

• Editable 80-slide PowerPoint teaching presentation
• Learning objectives and starter activity
• Visual examples comparing conceptual, logical and physical schemas
• Customers, products and orders sales-system examples
• Logical-to-physical mapping workflow
• Checkpoints and applied scenarios
• Comparison table and memory strategy
• Inquiry activity: build three schema views
• IB-style practice questions and exit ticket

Suitable for: IB Diploma Computer Science SL & HL, A3.2.1 Database Schemas, first assessment 2027, ages 16–18.