Computer Literacy Program – Class 2 – Hardware

Ryan will do more thorough posts about the curriculum, the activities, and the effectiveness of the program when all the classes are complete on ideonexus.com. These are just my own personal recaps and memories.

The first class on The Bit was so busy and hectic, I didn’t get to take any pictures. During this second class on Hardware, I was able to snag some shots.

For this class, Ryan started off with the history of computers and how the word “computer” used to refer to humans instead of machines. Ryan also talked about other types of computers– the abacus, the slide rule, the scientific calculator. And by no coincidence, Ryan had an example of each to pass around the class.

Girls with Abacus

Ryan Talks about the Scientific Calculator

The lecture then covered computer history from the ENIAC to the UNIVAC to today’s Kraken. To drill home just how far computers had come, Ryan pointed out how powerful today’s tiny cellphones are compared to the giant computers that used to take up entire floors.

The lecture ended with a dissection! Ryan took apart an old computer, opened it up, explained the various parts.

Computer Dissection

Some parts of the computer were passed around and sometimes things don’t change. Despite explicit instructions, the hard drive was still returned covered in small, greasy fingerprints. I’ve had similar issues with my camera lens. 🙂

Looking at Harddrive

A wireless router made the rounds as well.

Wireless Router

We finished up the evening session our hands on lab. We did some “Keyboard Karate”. It was a bumpy lab (we had technical difficulties demonstrating on the projector), but the kids got to learn and practice keyboard shortcuts including Alt-Tab, Ctrl-A, Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V and the very important Ctrl-Z (which I’ve already used a number of times authoring this post!!!)

Kids Ready for Lab

At least twice during lab time, I heard a “Vicky Look!” from across the room. I would turn around to see a child grin as they switched from Notepad to Internet Explorer using Alt-Tab.

They were so, so proud.

And me– even more! 🙂

More pictures of the Computer Literacy Class are on my Flickr site.