I will have students jigsaw the article and talk about different components of the computer with their partners who have become experts on other parts. There will be either two or three jigsaw rounds so students can hear about all about each of the computer components. At the end, students will share out whole class so students create a common understanding.
The students that I will have, have already learned about computer hardware in their Intro to Computers class. For that class, I usually open a computer up and point out what everything is as we go over the vocabulary. Eventually, they will take an ancient computer (it ran windows 98) apart and have to name everything to me along with what each component does.
I have an older desktop and laptop that we were going to throw away, I thought it might be interesting to open them up and show them the pieces and approach it from that way first. Then maybe find more interesting graphics that relate a computer to a person or other things to help them remember. Create quick ways or pneumonic devices that can be posted in the room while students get acclimated to the new vocabulary.
I have built many computers now and as a result have lots of leftover parts from upgrades. I think it would be interesting to open a computer and have students examine the parts inside. This will give them a better experience than just looking at pictures because they can see the actual parts and see how they connect to each other.
If I had access to an old computer that I could take apart, I would use that as a demonstration to get the ideas flowing for the project. Students could also journal about what they look for in a computer (what they will be using it for). I think as much hands-on and students generated ideas are the best and help learning stick. After their brainstorming, pair students up to do the computer buying project.
I have old computers, video cards, hard drives, etc. Iāll bring them into class for the students to examine and handle. Put them in pairs to chose one item, research it, and create a presentation.
This is a rough draft of an idea, but here goes: Iām going to place definitions of hardware components around the room. Each group will have post-its with the names of the hardware components and theyāll match those in a gallery-walk fashion. These labels will remain as an artifact in the classroom and Iāll name different parts of the class after these hardware components (e.g. āGroup 2, walk over to the Motherboard and work on your posterā)
I think the idea of inquiry is really important in this lesson. Computers, when you dissect them, are so intricate and have all these really cool parts. I think once youāve reviewed the components within a computer, basic definitions, etc, it would be really cool to just show them these parts and see if they can guess which is which or even have students bring in an old phone that they might be interested in taking apart to see what parts might be similar to a computer (like memory).
I have some old computers to take a part do that students can see the outside. I also have a you tube clip on the evolution of gaming systems.
I opened up one of our desktops that no longer work and pulled out the different items (that were easily removable) or pointed the items out, showed the video attached to this lesson, and gave my students the matching worksheet attached to this lesson for an assessment. I will also give them the diagram of the computer from the carnegie website (with labels whited out) and have the student label the pieces.
I will start with a pre-test to determine what the students already know about the inside of a computer. I will group them homogeneously according to their answers. Students will participate in a think-pair-share about what makes a good computer. Then I will introduce them to the provided resources and they will identify which components would be most important for them if they were to buy a new computer.
I have access to a number of spend and obsolete desktop computer systems with a variety of peripherals that can be completely rendered and discarded. I intend to allow students to completely dismantle some of these systems
I agree with some of the postings about having a real computer tower on hand to allow students to see whatās actually inside the computer. Handling the parts might help some of the students who have a different learning style grasp the concept.
I have another teacher that uses a lesson like this in his class, so Iām going to have to skip this lesson, but Iāll definitley send him all the nice resources from this lesson.
I was thinking about having kids take apart an old computer, and using a guided handout or online document that contained pictures of the parts. I would have the kids label and define each part and then in groups re-build the computer. If it was a working computer, they can then turn it on and see if it works properly.This would be ideal, but Iām not sure if it would be feasible. I would have to see once I get back into my school building.
Also, I was thinking of having them change parts in a computer in order to see an effect. Maybe changing the graphics card and seeing how a video or image changes. Iām still running with these ideas. Weāll see once I actually get to, and do this lesson.
Students will be encouraged to take the initiative in identifying the various computer components and explaining their uses in their own words.
I opened all of my machines and had students identify various parts (groups of 6) It is amazing how little the average 9th grader could identify. Hhhmmmā¦ is this a sign that identifies my school as a title 1 school (lower socio-economic level) or is it just a sign that humanity has given up trying to understand that mystical āBlack Boxā .
I plan on having the student research the functions and characteristics of a given set of computer components. Then I plan on taking apart a computer tower and let them touch and look at the hardware components.They will be taking some computer towers apart and putting them back later in the class.
After research into what the different options are used for, students will be given a āclientā with specific desires and needs. They will then make recommendations on what the client should buy as well as explain why they are making that recommendation.
I like this! Iām not sure what help I could be to students if I opened up a computer in class (I donāt even know), but I could certainly do this and I like that it creates artifacts in my classroom to be used for later!