Significance of Assumptions in Teaching Conceptual Modeling
Significance of Assumptions in Teaching Conceptual Modeling

Summary/Abstract: Conceptual modeling is an important step in the database design process. Due to vast applications of database in the industry, conceptual models are taught as part of the syllabi of database courses in many schools offering tertiary education. However, teaching conceptual modeling effectively is a challenge for the instructors. The instructors usually focus on the terminology, syntax and semantics of models and ignore the significance of assumptions in model formulation. This paper emphasizes the importance of making right assumptions in conceptual modeling. Our research shows how wrong assumptions can result in an incorrect conceptual model. The research presented in this paper identifies various types of assumptions made by students and their impact on the correctness of the resulting model. It is expected that the instructors teaching conceptual modeling can take advantage of the findings of this research to improve the learning of their students.

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