‘Hello Ruby: Journey inside a computer’, is a whimsical picture book written by Linda Liukas which teaches students about computers and technology. Ruby’s world is about imagination and adventure. She is a little girl who makes new friends who help her solve problems. Based on the picture book, I wrote a program for our year 1 teachers who wanted a more ‘hands-on’ and engaging program. After reading Hello Ruby, one of the challenges we gave students was: Can you build a model of a computer which contains all the essential components?

Students were encouraged to think about the key board, the monitor, the mouse and even the cables. They were then given a range of recyclable materials to design and build with. At the bottom of this blog are some of their computers, they are pretty neat. I particularly like the attention to detail involved with the cables and the mouse.

Please note, prior to giving students their challenge, classes discussed what a computer is, where computers can be found and how how the parts are connected. Students had the opportunity to unplug cables and see what happens, investigate where the power comes from, how the monitor is connected to the computer and so forth. They also compared themselves to a computer. Below is a student work sample: