Computer Literacy Program – Class 10 – Data, Information and Knowledge

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.

For the 10th Computer Literacy Class, Ryan spoke on “Data, Information and Knowledge.” He started the lecture off with Mindshare and the differences between Push and Pull Media. For something fun he talked about Internet Memes. He shared a number of examples including All Your Base and LOL Cats.

Ryan and I do try to throw in examples that the kids would recognize. On the slide full of LOL Cats, the kids spotted and pointed out a familiar face. Ryan’s cat, Mollie, made it into to presentation.

Mollie’s Appearance

After Memes, Ryan tackled a tough topic. He explained the differences between Data (raw facts), Information (data relating to each other) and Knowledge (internalized lessons and conclusions about the world around us). The boundaries between the three are sometimes ambiguous which makes it a trickier concept than Class 3’s Logic Gates. Unfortunately there isn’t a good way to explain it involving Henry. : )

But with trickiness came good discussions from a variety of contributors. Ryan shared a number of slides and asked the kids if it was Data, Information or Knowledge. They had different answers, but they all had reasons behind their answers which was impressive.

Directions to Port Discover – Data, Information or Knowledge?

Keyboard – Data, Information or Knowledge

With nine other classes under my belt, I am well accustomed to being beckoned to help. This particular class, a young lady waved me over. Instead of the usual questions about how to spell a URL or which file to copy, she whispered, “What is wrong with you?”

I was ill. Perhaps a few key observations caught her attention. Maybe she noted my decreased energy, the extra hoodie I wore over my sweater and my pasty skin. Together, she saw a pattern forming, a possible relation between the three. My answer to her question confirmed it. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I may have watched Data being converted to Information right before my groggy eyes.

This class was the very first class that ended early. I can’t say I was upset, I was rather anxious to go to bed. But for the future, Ryan and I have a few activity ideas we can add to this session to make it longer. A spreadsheet exercise, for example, would fit in well.