Actually doing a live in class demo with students. I can find old computers and have students take them a part and identify the different parts/components.
I plan on having students take apart a computer.
I like the idea of having an example of hardware so students can see what the computer looks like form inside out! We have old hardware that they can touch and explore close up how computers are put together.
Iâll give a pretest on computer components by pairs. This could be followed by looking at the cyberacademy website for futher info. I will bring in old computers and components as well as a Raspberry Pi to look at. I think just practicing inserting and removing RAM would be beneficial. When buying a computer I will suggest looking at the website: http://pchound.com/
I would have the students each answer a short questionnaire about their personal computer preferences (like what they plan to use it for, what software theyâll run on it, how much do they want to spend, etc.). Then I would have them find someone else in the classroom who plans to buy a computer for similar use and together they could research online.
I plan on taking apart a computer and showing the different parts to my students.
I also teach some of my IT kids biology. I plan on having my students find complementary parts between the human body and the computer. I have several old computers cracked open and will put that on display, and I intend to borrow one of the âdummiesâ from the health care and careers group and have students match the parts up.
I will ask the leader of the health cares and careers pathway if I can get some âguest speakersâ from his pathway into our class so they can help share out information about the complementary parts of the human body.
Students will remain in assigned groups. The groupâs goal is to determine why they need a computer and what it will be used for. I will also provide a list of the components of the computer. The students will also research the components of a computer and explain the use for each component before making a recommendation for purchasing a computer.
I plan on using the link from Carnigie Melon and I also have a computer simulator that I like to have my students use.
In addition to bringing in actual computers for my students to look at, I would like to have them access various online computer building websites. I would have them choose what they would like to have as far as features, but also have them justify WHY they would choose the specific options.
I began with a discussion about the parts of a computer and asked the students that seemed to know about the parts already how they knew what they knew. Then I had students in groups investigate all parts of the computer. Then I surprised them by making them randomly present about one of the parts. I wanted to make sure that all the students knew more about the parts.
I plan to have the computers take a part a computer and put it back together while labeling each computer and its components. This way it should hit more learning styles than just the traditional lecture method would hit.
Having them virtually build computers. I hadnât thought of that. That would allow more students to work through building a computer than using an old computer.
Someone above mentioned the idea of collaborating with the IT department or SYSOP. It would be nice to get some computer hardware parts that the students can touch and identify. Maybe even get a brief history on the evolution of the HDD (ATA, to SATA) or the mouse (PS/2, ball, USB, to laser)
Iâm thinking of having the students search the internet for a computer to buy and then have them look up the meaning of all the technical info they arenât familiar with using a computer vocab site.
I liked the idea of putting students in groups of 2 to 3 for the computer review assignment. I really like the computer parts game. Students love anything that looks like a game.
I have heard of teaching utilizing a shoe box to illustrate the inside of a computer. I have had students to building the major components of a computer out of cardboard and it has worked in the past. I utilized the materials found on the Futures Channel.
Students will explore and research on their own. Then they will share with class.