Lab Section Overview
EDS 213 | Databases and Data Management
Welcome to Lab!
Each week, lab section gives you dedicated time to work on a hands-on database project of your choosing. Over the quarter, you’ll go from raw data to a fully documented, query-able database and share what you built with your classmates.
This is your chance to apply what you learn in lecture to a dataset that genuinely interests you. You’ll walk away with a portfolio piece and experience with the full data pipeline: from messy files to structured, query-ready databases.
The Project
Over 7 weeks, you will:
- Choose a dataset that you find interesting
- Design a schema — understand relationships between tables
- Clean and ingest your data into a database
- Ask a question and write SQL to answer it
- Visualize your results in R or Python
- Document your work thoroughly
- Showcase your database to the class! 🎉
Weekly Schedule
| Week | Topic | Materials |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Select a dataset & define your schema | Week 1 |
| 2 | Clean the data | Week 2 |
| 3 | Ingest data & explore your database | Week 3 |
| 4 | Develop an analytical question & write SQL queries | Week 4 |
| 5 | Visualize your results | Week 5 |
| 6 | Document your work | Week 6 |
| 7 | Database showcase! | Week 7 |
Choosing Your Dataset
You can use any dataset that interests you — the only requirement is that it has multiple related tables so you can practice designing a real relational schema.
- Pick something you’re genuinely curious about — you’ll be spending the whole quarter with it
- Make sure it has at least 2–3 related tables (or can be split into them)
- Check that the data is accessible and downloadable before committing
The Database Showcase
In Week 7, each student will give a short presentation on their database project. This is a chance to:
- Share the question you set out to answer
- Walk through your schema design decisions
- Show off your SQL queries and visualizations
- Teach your classmates something new about a topic you explored
More details on the showcase format will be shared closer to Week 7.
Rubric
The rubric for the project can be found here.
