Our year 5 ICT group made a set of “Top Trump” style cards using Textease CT Database, on the theme of “UK birds”. We discussed which field names to have and settled on:

Picture
Name
Wingspan (cm)
Length (cm)
Weight (g)
Maximum clutch size
Ferocity – (the traditional Top Trumps made up field!)

They also had to decide the unit of measurement – very important they are consistent!

We used http://www.garden-birds.co.uk/ to research the necessary data and used the bird clipart pictures provided on the links page of the project website. The children had to decide on a ferocity factor on a scale of 1-10!

With a class of children choosing a few birds each, they  very quickly created a whole pack of cards, which were laminated for hours of fun! A set of cards was sent to a small primary school in North Queensland, Australia. Their children enjoyed the game so much, they requested another pack! We were delighted to receive a pack of cards which they made in return. The game was also featured in a Guardian photo shoot, when the newspaper visited the school to write an article about the use of nest box cameras in school.

Follow up lessons included scanning the database for mistakes – we found a Canada Goose had a weight of 4.6g! What had gone wrong here? What should it have been?
The children also used the finished database to query which other cards might beat their card on particular fields.