Superimposing a strand map over lectures and textbook content (in a database class)

The strand map model is a directed graph of learning objectives (also called benchmarks) as defined by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) to organize K-12 learning objectives for science literacy. We used the strand map model at a more detailed level to describe the learning objectives for one topic (normalization) in an introductory database class. More than that, we superimposed our strand map over lecture slides and the relevant sections from the textbook by linking each benchmark to the relevant slides and textbook content. Students and instructors can use our strand map interactively - proceeding in a top-down, bottom-up, or other manner, guided by the dependencies in the strand map. This paper reports on our experience using the normalization strand map in five successive course offerings. Our questionnaire data indicates that students were consistently quite positive in their assessment of this use of strand maps.