I should really thank my Mentor Gautham Raj for starting
COMPED Program where the wish of thousands of children of learning about the
usage of computer and becoming the Web Champions is going to come true.
Web Champions ?? Yes,
the mission of Webmaker project is to make the world “Web Literate”. This can
be possible only when the people whom we teach are computer literate. Making the World Computer and Web Literate is
the final aim of COMPED Program which is a part of Webmaker project.
I have initiated this program in a small residential school
which is nearby to my home where there are 20 small children learning Islam for
free. These students don’t know what a computer is!! Making them understand
about computer was a challenging task for me. This cannot be achieved in one
day or two. Then, I finally decided to dedicate 1 hour every day for these
children and contribute towards Web Maker project.
I spoke to the head of the
school regarding the mission of Web Maker Project and asked him permission of
1 hour for everyday. He happily accepted my request and allotted time of COMPED
class from 8:00 – 9:00 pm, everyday.
I started teaching them from 20th Jan 2014. The
day I went into the school, I found mix of students of different ages (6
years to 14 years). I fell in love with the small children who live very
far from their parents who are very poor and couldn’t afford for their
education and food. These Students are
so energetic and passionate to learn about usage of computer and the web.
Here is what I taught them in this week (20th Jan
– 25th Jan 2014):
Day 1 (20th Jan):
When I started the class, all the faces were blooming with
happiness. I asked them where have you all seen the usage of computer? A small
child replied I have seen in my home town (Bihar), another kid told I have seen
in railway station, another child replied I have seen in a school, like wise I
got many replies. Then I asked would you all like to use it? I got a loud
answer yes, yes, yes!! I then, headed
towards blackboard and drawn a block diagram of computer.
After drawing this block diagram of computer, I told them
that computers were mainly invented for performing complex mathematical
calculations where human beings find difficulty to do in. Then I asked a
question, how to run a computer?? A kid replied by pressing the button…, I explained computer
would run if it is connected to power, and told them that like other devices
computer is also an electronic machine. Then
I asked 2+3=?
Every one replied 5, then I told let me show you all how
this question can be given to a computer, who will perform calculation and
where can we see the answer in the next class.
I asked everyone to draw the
above diagram and then I finished my class. Everyone after completing the class
came to me and shook their hands with me with a smile on their faces. I Felt so
happy.
Day 2 (21st Jan):
On the next day, I have again drawn block diagram of computer and
described about Keyboard (which is used to give question), C.P.U (which is used
to perform the calculation), Monitor (which is used to display the answer) and
mouse (which is also used to give a question). I again took example of 2+3=? And
told everyone that let’s solve this question using computer.
Me: I asked them, to give a question (2+3=?) to a computer,
what do we use??
Children: Few replied keyboard and few Mouse.
Me: Who will perform the calculation?
Children: C.P.U
Me: Where do we see the answer?
Children: Monitor
I told shabbash (very good) to all and explained both
Keyboard and Mouse are used to give question to a computer by keying in the keyboard
or by moving mouse;
C.P.U is used to perform large calculations like (50938303
X 309373) and monitor to display the question which we are keying in and to
view the answer given by the C.P.U.
Everyone indirectly understood the concept of basic
input and output devices.
Day 3(22nd Jan):
On the third day, I asked few questions on previous two
classes and everyone was so happy and enthusiastically answered to the questions. I told them now let’s learn in details about
C.P.U, Monitor, Keyboard and Mouse. Everyone nodded their heads.
I headed towards blackboard, drawn the diagram of only C.P.U
and asked them a question, what all the steps do you perform in mind to
calculate 2+3=??
A 12 year child replied, First we take 2 and 3
and save in mind, then we see the operator +, then perform calculation in mind
and give answer using mouth. I appreciated
that kid for his wonderful answer and gave him a goodie and told everyone that in
the same way, computer also performs the calculations by taking the question in
and displaying the output on the monitor.
1.
I explained about the 5 units of C.P.U as :
1. Input is used to give a question to a computer using
keyboard
2. C.U is used to take the input from keyboard and transfers to
M.U
3. M.U is used to store the input values (which is like a mind
for humans to store) given by keyboard and mouse
4. A.L.U is used to perform the calculation and send it to C.U
which stores the answer on M.U and sends it to Output.
5. Output is used to display the answer on the Monitor.
In this class, few students were unable to grasp at one
time, then I decided to explain it in the next class even.
Day 4 (23rd Jan):
On this day, I repeated the previous class once again and I explained
about Monitor, Keyboard and Mouse in detail. I took much time in explaining
about Keyboard keys (CAPSLOCK, Shift Key, Space bar, arrow keys and all the 26
alphabetic keys).
Day 5(24th Jan):
This day I wanted to show them practically what they learnt.
My cousin
Jamal was also interested in what I was doing and he too started accompanying
me in teaching. He took a practical session to students by opening my laptop.
First I asked children to write their names on a piece of
paper, and then Jamal helped each one of student to write their names in computer.
Children were too happy, and that happiness made me so satisfied and made me feel
proud on myself.
Day 6 (25th Jan):
This day, I wanted the student’s to explain about hardware
and software terms. For this, I took an example of human being. I asked the
students what do you call the external body parts they told body organs then I
asked what is inside of a human to which makes him live?? They replied soul!!
In the same way, I explained the external parts of a
computer are known as “Hardware” (C.P.U, Monitor, Keyboard and Mouse) and the internal
soul of a computer as “Software”. Then I explained about O.S and told the story
of evolution of Linux!!
In these 6 days, I found few students writing in notebook and
few are not. When I asked the reason, I got to know that just because
they don’t have money to purchase notebooks and pens they are not writing!! Felt very
bad!! Will find out a solution to provide them notebooks to write.
Find more images on Flickr!!
