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I had no idea how to talk for 30 minutes about "Understanding and programming computers". How could I engage with these kids, many of them from farming families, about new technology? I couldn't lecture them: they'd be bored within minutes.
So I flipped things around. Instead of writing notes about what I'd tell them, I wrote notes about what I'd ask them. Ten questions about computers, as follows:
1. Why is it important to understand how computers work?
2. Where would you find computers?
3. How long have computers existed?
4. Some examples...
5. What are computers good at?
6. So what is a computer?
7. Who here plays computer games?
8. Who makes computer games?
9. What else do programmers make?
10. How do you tell a computer what to do?
Number 4 isn't actually a question, obviously. It gave me the chance to wheel out my props: two computers from 1983. An Acorn Electron home machine and a Panasonic Portable Computer for business users (basically a 16kg laptop).
I also passed around an Intel CPU in a plastic case, so the children could see the 'brain' of a computer, and a floppy disk, so they could guess how many floppies would fit into the USB stick I held up. The highest number guessed was 20. The actual number is 200,000.
That was a surprise to the kids. But in every other respect they surprised me. I had made some notes to help move things along, but I didn't need them.
Their answers to the questions were thoughtful, salient and wide-ranging. 'Cuteness' was cited as a desirable component in a computer game; GPS systems, fish-finders, phones, tablets and smart TVs were given as examples of devices containing computers; the Enigma machine was mentioned as an early example of a computer. And perhaps my favourite response to number 6: "A computer is a tool for the mind."
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Source: IDG Connect
