Input, Process, Store, Output

We are learning to describe the four jobs every digital system does, and to trace one task through the processor, memory, storage and output.

Before you startAbout 60 minutes · what success looks like · notes for the helper

About 60 minutes. It's fine to stop after the Quick Check and come back another day: the lesson opens where you left it, at the Quick Check.

You'll know you've got it when

I can name the jobs of input, processor, memory, storage and output, and give an everyday example of each
I can trace one task, such as adding two numbers, through the parts in order and record each step on a trace sheet
I can explain the difference between the part that does the work (the processor) and the parts that hold data (memory and storage)

For the helperhow to sit beside this lesson, and what this step is for

This step: Spark

Start with the question at the top and chat about it. There is no wrong answer here: it gets your learner thinking about what they already know.

Getting ready: A few helpers if you can find them, or one adult and the child swapping roles: a tray or bowl for the memory, a folder for the storage, a small whiteboard or sheet of paper for the output, scrap paper cut into slips, and four short instruction cards written beforehand. The choice tasks may add paper and coloured pencils (the drawing), a short walk around the house with you (the detective), or a phone to record an explanation if your child would like to. No device is needed. The whole lesson takes about 60 minutes, which is more than one sitting for most children; a natural break is after the check, with the task and reflection the next day.
What understanding sounds like: Listen for your child saying what each part does in order, not just naming it: 'the numbers go in, the processor adds them, memory holds them while it works, then the answer goes out and a copy is kept.' Putting the steps in a line is the heart of it.
A likely mix-up, and something that helps: A common idea is that the processor, the 'brain', does everything, including keeping the photos, or that the screen is the computer. You might ask, 'Who does the adding, and who holds the numbers while it happens?' If the role-play is going, the person acting as processor can try to hold every slip in their hands, and the struggle shows why a tray is needed.
If it comes easily: Where the role-play runs smoothly, one twist is a decision card, such as 'if the answer is more than 10, write BIG beside it', and then asking which part follows the instruction and which part holds the word BIG afterwards.
If it's a struggle: If it is a struggle, one way is to act out only three parts first, input, processor and output, with one number in and one number out, then bring in the memory tray and the folder in a second go. Processor, memory and storage are new words carrying the whole lesson; for a child learning English, a sticky-note label on the person, the tray and the folder, read aloud each time they are used, can help them stick. If your child would rather not play a part today, you can act it out while they hold the trace sheet and call each step, which is the same thinking.

Step 1 of 6 · Spark

Lesson 1 of 4 · Inside the Box

Between the tap and the picture

For the helper

Start with the question at the top and chat about it. There is no wrong answer here: it gets your learner thinking about what they already know.

Your helper taps a photo of last summer's beach trip on a phone, and about a second later the picture fills the screen. Nobody inside the phone looked at anything. Nobody carried the picture across. Yet something decided which photo you meant, something fetched it, and something lit up the screen. So who did what, between your tap and the picture? Before you read on, write a quick list of 'who did what', even if you have to invent the names of the parts. Keep your list: at the end of the lesson you will fix it with the proper terms.

One tap, one picture, one second. A whole team of parts worked in between.