How to Do Computer Science in the Classroom

I have been teaching computers in my kindergarten classroom since 1995. One of their favorite parts of the unit is the science lesson in which we tear a computer apart. At the end of the lesson each student goes home with a component of the computer.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• a computer that will never be used again (not that hard to find, especially on a school campus)

1. Secure a computer that you will never use again. Somewhere on your school campus is a computer graveyard that probably has some computers that will never be used again.
2. Be sure you have all the correct screwdrivers to take the computer apart. Some computers are put together with strange nuts and bolts so just double check the day before the science experiment.
3. Read your students the book "The Magic School Bus Gets Programmed". This is a story about a journey into a computer and points out many of the components that you will be showing the kids.
4. Gather the kids around the computer and start ripping it apart. I have always been told that even unplugged computers can carry a charge in them and create a minor electrical shock. I have never experienced this shock but for that reason I do not have the kids touch the computer until the components have been removed.
5. Once the computer is in pieces, scattered on the ground I start randomly handing out the components for the kids to keep. Each time I hand out a component I tell the kids "this is a very important component, the computer can't run without it"