Computer Fluency Project



Computer Fluency Project

by

Garry Beckham & Wes Sission

Goal: Learn the names of different computer parts and how they work.

Course level: Introductory Level --- High School 9th Grade.

Project Duration: Two to four class periods.

Resource Materials:

A. Websites: ,

B. Search Engines: and and or other search engines

C. Media Center

Special Requirements:

A. Computer Lab with Internet Access

B. Teacher familiarity with search engines to include search techniques using text inside quotes, Boolean searches using AND and OR.

Computer skills used: Internet Search Techniques, Word Processing, Internet Research, Keyboarding and Mouse Use

Other Skills: Thinking, Organization, Collaborative Skills, Public Speaking

Project Description: Students will work in small groups (max 4 per group) and learn to use Internet search and other research techniques and sources to learn about the different parts of the computer. After doing research, each group will give a classroom demonstration (presentation) about how their computer part works. Each individual makes a written report about “How Computer Works”.

Ancillary Learning Objectives: Students doing their “equal share”.

Evaluation: A subjective evaluation of group presentation and individual written report. In addition, a quiz to test knowledge and retention.

Attachments:

1. List of Computer Parts

2. Sample Search

3. Recommended Search Strategies

List of computer parts:

|Input Devices |CPU |Output Devices |

| | | |

|Mouse |ALU |Printer |

|Disk Drive |Registers |Disk Drive |

|Keyboard |Memory |Monitor |

|Scanner |Cache |Overhead Projectors |

|Camera |Decoder |Camera |

| |Bus | |

| | | |

Sample Search via

1st Search: How Computer Mice Work ( Results 2450 sites found.

2nd Search: “How Computer Mice Work” ( Results 12 sites found.

Notice that without the quotes, 2450 sites were found. By adding quotes around the string of words that are to be searched, the number of sites was reduced to 12.

Results of the search “How Computer Mice Work”:

Web Page Matches   (1 - 12 of 12)

• Howstuffworks "How Computer Mice Work"

... How Computer Mice Work by Marshall Brain Tell a friend about this article! Introduction

to How a Computer Mouse Works Evolution Inside a Mouse Data Interface ...

   [More Results From: ]

• Howstuffworks "How Computer Mice Work"

... How Computer Mice Work by Marshall Brain, Introduction to How a Computer Mouse

Works Evolution Inside a Mouse Data Interface Links What do you think? ...

   [More Results From: howstuffworks.]

• How does that Work

... How Computer Mice Work. How Computer Monitors Work. How Computer Keyboards

Work. Why are the keys arranged the way they are on a "QWERTY" keyboard-. ...

   [More Results From: home.apu.edu]

• The Mouse Project :: Links

Howstuffworks: How Computer Mice Work The History of Invention:

Computer Mouse MouseSite Computer Peripherals: Mice.

   [More Results From: ]

• Mice & Keyboard FAQs

... Jackson County, Illinois. ... Where is the ANY key? This

is not a key. When you are instructed to press ...

   [More Results From: co.jackson.il.us]

• Getting and Listening to MP3s

... See It! Under Construction. Back to Top. Read It! COMPUTERS: How Cable

Modems Work. How Modems Work. How Computer Mice Work. How Video Games Work. ...

   [More Results From: ceec.]

• tutorialfind - Mouse tutorials

... 2. How Computer Mice Work A fascinating article that describes

how your computer mouse works. (HowStuffWorks). ...

   [More Results From: .au]

• Hardware

... Collection Computing: Collection Hardware: Composite How computer mice work Picture

The keyboard Picture The keyboard II Picture The keyboard III Picture The ...

   [More Results From: gehtnix.fernuni-hagen.de]

• Hardware, how to make it work, on Ricci Street's Gizmos, Inc ...

... How Computer Mice Work by Marshall Brain. Many people use computers so much

their wrists and fingers ache or downright hurt! What can you do? ...

   [More Results From: ]

•

... building a computer mouse. The girls learn how computer mice work, and then design

and cost a new model, according to customer specifications. The girls get to ...

   [More Results From: ]

• Remote-controlled preamplifier

... in any commercial audio equipment (though Dominic points out that most computer

mice work with optical rotation decoders!). The rotation sensor (or of course ...

   [More Results From: soton.ac.uk]

• Sam's Laser FAQ - Laser Based Instruments and Applications

... be the derivative of the beat frequency. A dual (quadrature) detector can be used

to derive the direction of rotation (analogous to how computer mice work!). ...

   [More Results From: ]

Results of opening up Howstuffworks "How Computer Mice Work" from our first search.

( Click on one of the tags below to learn about a specific computer part.

Ever wonder how a disk drive works or what a Microprocessor does??  Thanks to you can now have the answer!

How Microprocessors Work

How Computer Memory Works

How Hard Disks Work

How Computer Viruses Work

How Computer Mice Work

How Computer Monitors Work

How Computer Keyboards Work

Why are the keys arranged the way they are on a "QWERTY" keyboard-

What does Alt+F4 do-

How Operating Systems Work

How Web Servers and the Internet Work

How Email Works

How Web Pages Work

How Web Animation Works

How Internet Search Engines Work

Recommended Search Strategies

[pic]

|[pic] |Recommended Search Strategy: |

| |Search With Peripheral Vision |

| |Teaching Library Internet Workshops |

| |University of California, Berkeley |

[pic]

The URL of this page is:   

[pic]

• The FIVE-STEP Search Strategy We Recommend

• Some strategies we do not recommend

• Tables Matching What Your Search May Need with Search Tool Features

The FIVE-STEP search strategy we recommend:

|STEP #1. ANALYZE your topic to decide where to begin: |

|Click here for a printable FORM you may use to Analyze Your Topic (pdf file).  PDF files are supported in Netscape 4.x and some |

|other browsers. To view, search, or print the PDF files, you will need to use Adobe® Acrobat® Reader software, which is available |

|free from Adobe if you need it. |

|Does your topic... |have distinctive words or phrases? |

| |methernitha, unique meaning |

| |"affirmative action", specific, accepted meaning in word cluster |

| |have NO distinctive words or phrases you can think of? You have only common or general terms that get |

| |the "wrong" pages. |

| |"order out of chaos", used in too many contexts to be useful |

| |sundiata, retrieves a myth, a rock group, a person, etc. |

| |seek an overview or cover a broad topic? |

| |victorian literature, alternative energy sources, concepts generally well accepted as specific |

| |specify a narrow aspect of a broad or common topic? |

| |automobile recyclability, want current research, future designs, not how to recycle or oil recycling or|

| |other community efforts |

| |have synonymous, equivalent terms, or variant spellings or endings that need to be included? |

| |echinoderm OR echinoidea OR "sea urchin", any may be in useful pages |

| |"cold fusion energy" OR "hydrogen energy", some use one term, some the other -- need to find both |

| |although not precisely interchangeable or equivalent |

| |millennium millennial millenium millenial "year 2000" "year 1000", etc., Pages you want may contain any|

| |or all. |

| |have you a little confused? Don't really know much about the topic yet? Need guidance. |

|STEP #2. Pick the right starting place using this table: |

|YOUR TOPIC'S |Search Engines |Subject |Specialized |Find an |LUCK |

|FEATURES: |& some Meta-Search Engines |Directories & |Databases |Expert | |

| | |Gateway Pages |"Invisible Web" | | |

|Distinctive or word |Enclose phrases in " ". |Search the broader|Want data? Want |Try looking |Always on your side. |

|or phrase? |Test run your word or phrase |concept, what your|specific |on your own |Keep your mind open. |

| |in Google or a meta-search |term is "about." |resources? |first. |Learn as you search. |

| |engine. | |Schedules? Maps? |Email the | |

| | | |Take a look. Hard |author of a | |

| | | |to predict what |good page you| |

| | | |you might find on |find. | |

| | | |the Invisible Web.|Ask a | |

| | | | |discussion | |

| | | | |group or | |

| | | | |expert. | |

| | | | |Never hurts | |

| | | | |to seek help.| |

|NO distinctive words |Choose search engines that |Try to find | | | |

|or phrases? |let you combine terms to |distinctive terms | | | |

| |narrow your search using |in hand-selected | | | |

| |Boolean AND or +. |web pages or a | | | |

| | |Gateway Page. | | | |

|Seek an overview? |  |Gateway Page may | | | |

| | |help | | | |

|Narrow aspect of |Northern Light's folders; |  | | | |

|broad or common |or AltaVista's search in | | | | |

|topic? |results | | | | |

|Synonyms, equivalent |Choose search engines with |  | | | |

|terms, variants |Boolean OR, or | | | | |

| |Truncation | | | | |

|Confused? Need more |  |Look for a Gateway| | | |

|information? | |Page (Subject | | | |

| | |Guide). | | | |

| | |Try an | | | |

| | |encyclopedia in a | | | |

| | |Virtual Library. | | | |

| | |Ask at a library | | | |

| | |reference desk. | | | |

|STEP #3. Learn as you go & VARY your approach with what you learn . |

|STEP #4. Don't bog down in any strategy that doesn't work. |

|STEP #5. Return to previous strategies better informed. |

Return to top of this page

Search strategies we do NOT recommend:

Because of their inefficiency and often haphazard and frustrating results, we do not recommend either of the following two approaches to finding Web documents:

• Browsing searchable directories.  BROWSING is a sometimes fun but not very efficient way to use directories. The term "directories" refers here to any collection of web resources organized into subject categories or some other breakdown appropriate to the content (Subject Directories or directories of specialized databases or of gateway pages). Browsing locates documents by your trying to match your topic in first the top, broadest layer of a subject hierarchy, then by choosing narrower sub-subject-categories in the hierarchy that you hope will lead to your target. Browsing encounters the difficulty of guessing under which subject category your topic is classified. The taxonomy in every directory differs, making browsing inconsistent from one search tool to another. The category "health" may contain documents on medicine, homeopathy, psychiatry, and fitness in one directory. In another "medicine" may include health, mental health, and alternative medicine, but not the term psychiatry and may classify fitness only under "lifestyle." So if there is a white search box on a subject directory, we recommend you try your keywords there.   Searching retrieves occurrences of your words no matter where they may be classified by subject. Use broad terms in searching any directory.

• "Simple" searching in large search engine databases. "Simple" searching is entering one or more keywords separated by spaces in the first "simple" search box you encounter in any search tool. "Simple" keyword searching accepts the system's defaults, usually retrieves irrelevant or too many documents in large databases. For large search engine databases, we recommend learning and using advanced techniques from the outset. The search engines we recommend and detailed instructions we provide for them all use the "Advanced" options of each (except Google, where "advanced" is really no better than "simple"). In small databases of Web documents and in directories however, "simple" keyword searching is usually the best approach. The small size of the databases makes more complex searching unnecessary and may even exclude documents you want.

• Following links to sites recommended by popular vote or commercial interest.    Often in browsers or in search results you will see links to sites that are selected from your search results based on how often they are visited by others, or based on fees paid to the browser.   Or you may see recommended "cool" sites.  Use these with caution!   Others may visit sites for reason having no relation to your information interests, and the best sites for you may still be largely undiscovered by the vast public searching the Web.  Taste varies and should vary.  Make your own evaluations.

Return to top of this page

|Table Matching What Your Search May Need with Search Tool Features |

|The purpose of thinking about your topic before you start searching is to determine what terms to search for and   what search tool|

|features you need to search successfully. The table below lists on the right features of many search inquiries. Use it to determine|

|which features your searches need. On the left, the table describes search tool features designed to support each of the search |

|needs listed on the left. |

|The links take you to the table of search engines -- so you can pick one with the features you need. |

|Features of your search inquiry |Matching Search Tools Features worth learning and using |

|Are you looking for a proper name  or a distinct |PHRASE SEARCHING is a feature you want in every search tools you choose.   |

|phrase ?  |Requires your terms all to appear in exacly the order you enter them.   |

|The name of an organization or society or |Enclose the phrase in double quotations " "   |

|movement   |Examples:   |

|A proper name or an individual   |"affirmative action"    |

|A distinctive string of words generally associated |"world health organization"    |

|with your topic |"a person's name"    |

|Can you think of an organization, proper name, or |In Infoseek, capitalizing initial letters will cause the terms to be searched |

|phrase to search for? It might help zoom in on the |as a phrase:   |

|pages you want. |World Health Organization   |

|Are some of your terms common words with many |BOOLEAN AND will help:   |

|meanings and contexts ?  |children AND television AND violence    |

|Children in conjunction with television and also |journalism AND ethics AND censorship    |

|violence   |+REQUIRES forces all the terms to be present in all documents retrieved, and is|

|Censorship as an aspect of ethics in journalism  |nearly equivalent to Boolean AND:    |

| |+children +television +violence    |

| |+journalism +ethics +censorship    |

| |SUB-SEARCHING may also be helpful.   |

| |After submitting the search journalism ethics , sub-search (at bottom results, |

| |search "only within these results" on censorship . Sub-search within these |

| |results for NEA "National End owment for the Arts" or other aspects of the arts|

| |to further focus.  |

|Do you anticipate lots of search results with terms|BOOLEAN AND NOT will help:   |

|you do not want ?  |"biomedical engineering" AND cancer AND NOT "Department of" AND NOT "School of"|

|Your search for biomedical engineering and cancer |   |

|brings you lots of academic programs, and you want |or its -EXCLUDES near equivalent:   |

|research reports. So you try to exclude documents |+"biomedical engineering" +cancer -"Department of" -"School of"   |

|contining Department of or School of  | |

|Are there synonyms , spelling variations , or |BOOLEAN OR will help:   |

|foreign spellings for some of your terms?  |(women OR females) AND networking    |

|women, females with networking   |(Sarajevo OR Sarayevo) AND peace    |

|Sarajevo, Sarayevo with peace   |(literature OR litterature) AND (French or francaise)    |

|literature, litterature with French, francaise  |or its equivalent specifying niether +Requires/-Excludes    |

| |+networking women females    |

| |+peace Sarajevo Sarayevo    |

| |literature litterature +French    |

| |literature litterature +francaise    |

| |With +Require/-Excludes, OR is the default when you specify neither + to |

| |require nor - to exclude.  |

|Are you looking for home pages and/or other |LIMIT TO TITLE FIELD IN DOCUMENTS   |

|documents primarily about your term(s)?  |title:"American Dietetic Association"  |

|The home page of the American Dietetic |title:"affirmative action" |

|Association   | |

|Pages primarily about Affirmative Action | |

|Are you looking for terms with many possible |TRUNCATION permits retrieving all these variations in one search term:   |

|endings ?  |femini* matches feminine, feminist, feminism, etc.   |

|Feminism, feminist, feminine   |child* retrieves child and children   |

|Children, child  |Some systems search word ending variants automatically. See the specific |

| |instructions for each of the recommended search tools.  |

Return to top of this page

[pic]

Want Detailed Searching Instructions including Sample Searches?

Click on the search tool's name below:

• Google

• Alta Vista Advanced Search

• Northern Light Power

• FAST Search Advanced Search

Return to top of this page

 

[pic]

|LINKS to the rest of the UC Berkeley Teaching Library Internet Tutorial: |

|  |

|• About WWW, Internet, Netscape |

|• About Search Tools |

|• Recommended Search Strategy |

|• Tables Comparing FIVE kinds of Search Tools |

|• Evaluating Web Pages:Why and How |

|Detailed Search Engine Instructions: |

|Google |

|Alta Vista Advanced Search |

|Northern Light |

|FastSearch |

|  |

| |

|  |

|Return to the Tutorial Table of Contents |

|GLOSSARY of jargon we use |

|  |

| |

[pic][pic][pic][pic]

[pic]

Copyright (C) 1998-2000 by the Library, University of California, Berkeley. All rights reserved. 

Document created and maintained on server by Joe Barker 

Last update 9/7/00. Server manager: webman@library.berkeley.edu

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download