There is a computer on the bench with its case open, and nothing in it will hurt you as long as it stays unplugged. Before anybody names a single part, your group is going to work out what each one is for.
What you are given
An opened desktop machine, a screwdriver, and a sheet of paper. Also a rule: nothing comes out until the whole group agrees what it does.
What to do
- Draw it. Sketch the board and the things attached to it, in roughly the right places, before touching anything. Ten minutes.
- Label your sketch with questions, not answers. “Big fan — why does this one need a fan and that one doesn’t?” is a better label than a name you half-remember.
- Sort by guesswork. Which parts do you think hold something? Which do work? Which just connect things? Write your reasoning down — you will want it later.
- Test one guess. For example: if a part holds something, does it matter whether the machine is on or off? Argue it out.
- Find the slowest path. Where do you think data travels most slowly in this machine, and why? There is a defensible answer, and arriving at it by argument is the point.
Questions worth arguing about
- Two parts are described as “memory”. Why does the machine need both?
- Why is the fan over one specific chip and not spread evenly?
- Which single part could you remove and still have the machine start?
- If this machine is slow when fifteen tabs are open, which part is the one to change?
Afterwards
Keep your sketch. When we name the parts in Inside the Machine you will annotate that same sheet with the real names — and the guesses you got wrong are the ones you will remember. Bring one question the sketch raised that we did not settle today.
Before you touch anything
Machines stay unplugged the entire period, and power supplies are never opened — they hold a charge after the plug comes out. Handle boards by their edges. Our Classroom Norms covers the rest.
Curriculum connection
C1.1
relate the specifications of the internal components of a computer (e.g., CPU, RAM, ROM, cache, hard drive, motherboard, power supply, video card, sound card) to user requirements;
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C1.4
identify the computer components involved in executing programming operations (e.g., assignment statements store a value in RAM, arithmetic operations are performed in the CPU).
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B1.1
use various problem-solving strategies (e.g., stepwise refinement, divide and conquer, working backwards, examples, extreme cases, tables and charts, trial and error) when solving different types of problems;
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