XRCamp After School, Unit 3, Day 1
Computer Parts & Peripherals
The Inside Team and the Outside Team: How a Computer Actually Works
What do you think these two pictures could possibly have in common? Make a guess with the person next to you first.
What you'll learn today
- Name the CPU, RAM, storage, motherboard, and GPU, and explain each one's job using a body analogy.
- Define what a peripheral is and sort examples into input devices and output devices.
- Trace the path information takes through a computer: input, processing, output.
- Choose computer parts to fit a specific job, using a "part = job" catalog.
- Describe how at least two computer parts have changed over time.
Part 1
Inside the Case: The Core Team
Five parts live inside the case. Each card gives the part's job and the body part it matches. Tap Then to see what that part used to look like.
Quick check
Play: walk the history of computers
Every part you just met used to be bigger, slower, and stranger. Walk the corridor from 1837 to today. Read each wall, stand on the answer you think is right, and click the pad to unlock the next era.
History of Computers
6 eras. W A S D or arrow keys to move, drag to look, click a pad to answer.
Works best on a laptop. Click inside the game once so it hears your keys.
After your run: which computer from the corridor surprised you most, and why?
Part 2
Meet the Peripherals
A peripheral is any device that connects to a computer to help it communicate with you.
It's not one of the core internal parts. It's how information gets in and out.
→ Input devices
Send information INTO the computer, like your senses.
← Output devices
Send information OUT to you, like your voice and actions.
Is a touchscreen an input device, an output device, or both?
A little history: peripherals
Follow the data: press, think, remember, draw, show
Type on the keyboard below and watch your letter travel. Then switch parts off and see what breaks. Try typing, restarting without saving, then saving and restarting again.
Keyboard (or type on your own keyboard while the diagram is selected)
Press a key to start.
Switch a part off
Turn and talk: pick one thing you did on a computer or phone this week. Name one input and one output from that moment.
Time to practice
Sort the Deck
Sort each card into core parts, input peripherals, or output peripherals. Say the part's job out loud before you pick.
Time to practice
Build-a-Computer Challenge
Choose parts within your budget for your assigned job, and justify one pick in writing. Prices are class prices for this challenge, not real store prices.
Justify one pick: why did you choose it for this job?
Play: build it in 3D
You picked parts on paper. Now put them in a real case. In the PC Building Game, place each part where it belongs and hook up the peripherals. Say each part's job out loud as you place it.
PC Building Game
A 3D room with a desk, a computer, and the parts that go inside it.
Works best on a laptop. Click inside the game once so it hears your keys.
Before you go
Exit Ticket
Finished early?
Beat your corridor score
Run the History of Computers corridor again and try for zero misses.
Back to the gameLooking ahead: Day 2
You'll return to your Character Design Sheet and finish 3 personality traits and 5 signature accessories, ready for 3D modeling.
Everyone's answers