In my sixth lesson, I decided to revisit the CPU however, this time, explore the three Cs: “Clock speed”, “Cache” size and number of “Cores”. Learning Objectives:
Lesson 1: The 3 Cs Suggested time: 50 mins Starter: I started with an activity adapted from a resource I found on CAS courtesy of John Bilton (johnbiltoncomputing.blogspot.co.uk) – “CPU Dart Activity”. You can find the original here: CPU Dart Activity For those new to DART (Directed Activity Related to Text), this activity is designed to support literacy. It focuses on the strategies of skimming, scanning and gap fill. The purpose of this DART activity is to give the students a brief overview of the main features of the CPU. Instructions:
Main Task: I started by explaining the main three features to consider when purchasing a CPU: Clock speed, Cache size and number of Cores. I then showed them a video courtesy of Mark Clarkson - "Mr. Clarkson talks about… The CPU" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4QmPFcBELE (Skip to 6m14s) I followed this by directing the students to wikispaces.com and instructed them to create a new page in their revision wiki called CPU. I then asked them to complete the following task: 1. Write a definition for the following terms:
2. Explain what is meant by Multi-Core processors. 3. Explain why a computer with a 4Ghz (6MB cache) processor would not be twice as fast as a 2Ghz (6MB cache) processor. Resources: Students can use the following links to help them complete their task: Mr. Clarkson talks about… The CPU: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4QmPFcBELE Teach-ICT – CPU: http://www.teach-ict.com/gcse_new/computer%20systems/cpu/miniweb/index.htm PWN ICT: http://www.pwnict.co.uk/computingGCSE/computingResources.html (Click on Hardware and then CPU) Plenary: Select students at random (See blog on random name selectors) to explain what is meant by Clock speed, Cache size and number of Cores. I tend to use Pose, Pause, Pounce and Bounce. Example: Pose a question to the whole class e.g. Explain why a computer with a 4Ghz (6MB cache) processor would not be twice as fast as a 2Ghz (6MB cache) processor. Pause to give students time to digest the question and think of their answer. If the students are engaged, try holding the pause for a little while longer to build up the tension. Pounce: Quickly, select a student to answer the question. i.e. Insist the answer to the question comes from student A and possibly student B, directly and fast! Obviously, plan in your mind who you are going to direct the questions to before hand. Bounce the question or student's response on to another student (immediately after the pounce). e.g. Ask them if they agree with the students previous answer and to explain why. For more information about the Pose, Pause, Pounce and Bounce technique, visit: @teachertoolkit - http://teachertoolkit.me/2013/01/04/pppb-version2/ Lesson 2: TouchDevelop Challenge Suggested time: 50 mins Main task: Following on from the previous week’s lesson, I asked students to load TouchDevelop (www.touchdevelop.com) on their computers and sign in with their google, microsoft or yahoo id. Once logged in, I sent them to the TouchDevelop Challenge (www.touchdevelop.weebly.com) and ask them to click on TD Challenge and attempt lesson 3 and 4. (touchdevelop.weebly.com/td-challenge.html). Plenary:
To finish the lesson, I asked the students to swap seats and invited them to try out each other’s games - giving feedback where appropriate. In my fifth lesson, I decided to look at the CPU in a little more detail, exploring the three major parts: Arithmetic/Logic Unit (ALU), Control Unit (CU) and Memory. I also decided to spend a little time looking at the Little Man Computer simulation to demonstrate the fetch-execute cycle. Learning Objectives:
Lesson 1: Little Man Computer Suggested time: 50 mins Starter: I started with an activity, courtesy of CS Unplugged, which provides students a basic understanding of how computers work by having them act out a simple computer simulation. Each student takes on the role of a different part of a simplified computer (CPU, ALU and Display) and, working in groups of three, run a simple program. The end result of this program is to draw a picture on a simulated computer display. You download the activity here: http://cse4k12.org/how_computers_work/index.html Main: I showed students a CPU, left over from the first lesson, and explained to students that, in the starter activity, they simulated what goes on inside the CPU (All be it at a very basic level!). I then explained that we would be taking a deeper look inside the CPU using a simulation called Little Man Computer (LMC). - http://www.yorku.ca/sychen/research/LMC/LittleMan.html I loaded Little Man Computer and explained to students that the main function of the CPU is to fetch and execute the instructions. I then showed students an example set of instructions to add two numbers and loaded it into the simulator to show students how the simulator works. Note: At this point, depending on the group, you could also show students an animation showing how the fetch-execute cycle works. Here are a couple of good examples: http://www.eastaughs.fsnet.co.uk/cpu/execution-fetch.htm http://community.computingatschool.org.uk/resources/95#post_18284 (Requires you to sign up – FREE) Next, I gave students a sequence of instructions, which I printed and cut into pieces. (See attached). I asked students, in their teams, to load the Little Man Computer simulator and execute the sample program. I then asked the students to place the printed instructions in the correct order and recorder their answers on the task sheet, provided. After 5 mins, we discussed the students’ findings. After discussing the sample program with the class, I then showed them the LMC reference sheet (See attached) and explained the different instructions. Finally, I challenged the students, using the reference sheet and what they had learnt, to write a program to add 3 numbers and execute it in the LMC simulator. As an extension, I asked some students to write a program to add and subtract a number or to write a program of their own. Extension: If you are feeling really brave, you could ask the students to convert the instructions from machine code to binary. Resources:
Plenary: CPU Dingbats I finished by playing a game of CPU dingbats (See attached). This version is based on a starter activity shared via CAS by John Bilton. (Original version can be found here: http://community.computingatschool.org.uk/resources/1314). Once the students had guessed the answers correctly, I explained to them that their homework was to research each of the three keywords (Clock Speed, Core and Cache Memory) and to explain how these effect the speed of the CPU. I asked the students to use their revision wikis to record their findings.
Lesson 2: TouchDevelop Challenge
Suggested time: 50 mins Main task: Following on from the previous week’s lesson, I asked students to load TouchDevelop (www.touchdevelop.com) on their computers and sign in with their google, microsoft or yahoo id. Once logged in, I directed the students to the TouchDevelop Challenge website (www.touchdevelop.weebly.com) and challenged them to attempt lesson 2 of the TD Challenge (http://touchdevelop.weebly.com/td-challenge.html). Plenary: To finish the lesson, I asked the students to swap seats and invited them to try out each other’s scripts - giving feedback where appropriate. |
AuthorSimon Johnson Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert / MIE Trainer
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June 2017
CategoriesAll Algorithms Cpu Fundamentals Hardware Input & Output Memory OCR A451 Software Storage |