What Should 10-Year-Olds Know About IT?

stephendl writes "I have been asked to give a computer based talk to a local primary school. It is part of an after school science club and I have a pretty free rein to talk about whatever I want for 10 minutes. The children will be aged 9 and 10 and will come from a range of backgrounds, there will be a parent of each child present too. My initial thoughts for the subject included the history of computers, the components in a computer and what computers are used for. Does the slashdot community have any suggestions, experience in this area or tips?"

Comments

How about things not to do?

[nharmon]

Perhaps some pointers on how everything you do on the internet can and will be recorded, and probably will come back to haunt you.

Wait, there's someone at the door............... ......

ARRRRRRRRRRRGH!!!!

Re:How about things not to do?

[Anonymous Coward]

Look, if he was dying, he wouldn't bother to carve 'aaaaaggh'. He'd just say it!

Or, perhaps he was dictating.

Re:How about things not to do?

[Anonymous Coward]

No, no. 'Aaaauugggh', at the back of the throat. Aaauugh

Re:How about things not to do?

[MindStalker]

MAYNARD:
It reads, 'Here may be found the last words of Joseph of Arimathea. He who is valiant and pure of spirit may find the Holy Grail in the Castle of aaaaaagggh'.
ARTHUR:
What?
MAYNARD:
'...The Castle of aaaaaagggh'.
BEDEVERE:
What is that?
MAYNARD:
He must have died while carving it.
LAUNCELOT:
Oh, come on!
MAYNARD:
Well, that's what it says.
ARTHUR:
Look, if he was dying, he wouldn't bother to carve 'aaaaaggh'. He'd just say it!
MAYNARD:
Well, that's what's carved in the rock!
GALAHAD:
Perhaps he was dictating.
ARTHUR:
Oh, shut up. Well, does it say anything else?
MAYNARD:
No. Just 'aaaaaagggh'.
LAUNCELOT:
Aaaauugggh.
ARTHUR:
Aaaaaggh.
BEDEVERE:
Do you suppose he meant the Camaaaaaargue?
GALAHAD:
Where's that?
BEDEVERE:
France, I think.
LAUNCELOT:
Isn't there a 'Saint Aaauuves' in Cornwall?
ARTHUR:
No, that's 'Saint Ives'.
LAUNCELOT:
Oh, yes. Saint Iiiiives.
KNIGHTS:
Iiiiives.
BEDEVERE:
Oooohoohohooo!
LAUNCELOT:
No, no. 'Aaaauugggh', at the back of the throat. Aaauugh.
BEDEVERE:
N-- no. No, no, no, no. 'Oooooooh', in surprise and alarm.
LAUNCELOT:
Oh, you mean sort of a 'aaaah'!
BEDEVERE:
Yes, but I-- aaaaaah!
ARTHUR:
Oooh!
GALAHAD:
My God!
[dramatic chord]
[roar]
MAYNARD:
It's the legendary Black Beast of Aaauugh!
[Black Beast of Aaauugh eats BROTHER MAYNARD]

Tell them to learn Hindi

[BigChigger]

if they're interested in an IT career.

BC

Here's a few

[crstophr]

-Locating bomb making instructions on the internet...
-How to disable parental controls on your web browser...
-Bit Torrent, free games and movies and you...
-Keystroke Loggers, how to watch what daddy is doing online...
-Free porn resources...
-Encrypting your .jpeg and movie collection...

Re:Hmmm.

[joper90]

me too.. well at 8 on the spectrum in the shops in town:

10 print "Joe is wicked..."
20 goto 10

ahhh.. the good old days.. however.. I did advance from that to the pc days: format c: .. then run...fast

Copyrights

[Maskirovka]

what should I tell the children about computers?

Talk to them about how evil copyright infringement hurts poor starving artists.

/ducks!

Re:What to talk about with 9 and 10 year olds

[BigJimSlade]

this is a CD Rom drive, you put CDs in it, like music CD's or ones with software on it

Just make sure you go over the talk with your local RIAA representative. They'll be sure to point out things you may have left out such as:

• CD-ROMs are the work of the devil!
• CD-ROMs were never meant for listening to music in, so if your new CD doesn't work in it... it's ok!
• Every time you make make or download an MP3, God kills a kitten!
• Did we mention that CD-ROMs are the work of the devil?
• Make sure to buy your favorite album 10, or even 15 times!

When I was 10...

[clambake]

Wow, is that really how messed up I am? When I was 10 I ran a warez/hacking BBS that was so popular that I was answering calls as far away as Guam and so actvie that I was forced to perm-ban ANYONE who dared to upload because my poor 20 meg hard drive was too full to boot properly... The LAST thing I needed was somone telling me what a keyboard was.

If I were you, I would start by asking for a show of hands, how many kids know what an openSSH timing attack is and anyone who understands what you just said should be sent outside and forced to play in the sun.

compilers

[smoon]

Explain that a compiler tokenizes input from a high level programming language and produces a parse tree which eventually results in object code, which is then linked to static or dynamic libraries with a linker and loaded into RAM by a loader.

I would then immediately jump into the finer points of data structures and algorithms, for example balanced trees, big O notation, efficiencies of various sort algorithms, red/black trees, etc.

Don't forget to use lots of greek characters. In fact this might be a good time to clear up some abstract programming topics, such as lambda functions, macros (in the lisp sense), continuations, anonymous functions, etc.

Suggest Intercal as a good beginners language.

Whatever demo machine you use, make sure to put a block of dry ice in it and claim it is cooled by liquid nitrogen.

I hope these suggestions have been helpful. :)

Slashkids

[wikinerd]

Well, there is no need to tech them anything at all; just land them on Planet Slashdot and they will learn whatever they need to know to survive in the Net :)

Re:On a serious note...

[gowen]

The British did much of the preliminary work in computing (Alan Turing built the first stored-program computer in Manchester University in 1948) but really have done little since of any real note.

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