ALEX Learning Activity

In this activity, students will read articles from Pebble Go about computer hardware and computer software. The students will look for similarities and differences between the two components. After reading they will record information they found in the articles on a note-taking graphic organizer.

This learning activity was created as a result of the ALEX - Alabama Virtual Library (AVL) Resource Development Summit.

Students will describe the similarities and differences between computer hardware and software.

Students will curate information from digital sources to answer a research question.

1. The teacher will read through lesson objectives with students, making sure to discuss any unfamiliar words (curate, hardware, software, similarities, differences). Lesson objective: I can navigate Pebble Go to find articles that describe the similarities and differences between computer hardware and software.
2. The teacher will introduce the research questions.

   • “What are hardware and software?”
   • “What are the similarities and differences between hardware and software?”

3. The teacher will model how to navigate to the Computer Hardware article found in Pebble Go using these instructions: Pebble Go (accessed through Alabama Virtual Library - Click on “Elementary School'' Click on “Pebble Go” Click on “Science” then click on “Technology” then click on “Computers” then access the article on Computer Hardware. Picture instructions can be found here.) It might be best to go through each step one at a time as a group, allowing each student to complete one step before moving to the next step.
4. The teacher will read the Computer Hardware article to the students.
5. The teacher will model adding two facts to the note-taking graphic organizer (note-taking graphic organizer).
6. The teacher will say, "Now that you have an idea of how to research an article and record information from it, you are going to do this on your own."
7. The students will read the two articles (They will re-read "Computer Hardware" and read "Computer Software").
8. As they are reading the articles, they will list two facts about computer hardware and computer software on the note-taking graphic organizer. The students will record a similarity and a difference between the hardware and software.
9. The teacher will say, “Now that we have curated information about computer hardware and software, we are going to make a poster using that information.

(This will be completed in the associated After Activity “Hardware and Software in Pebble Go, Part 3".)

During the activity, the teacher will circulate and check for understanding. Periodically the teacher will check for understanding for the class as a whole using the “fist to five” strategy. In this strategy, teachers will ask students to rate their competency level comparing and contrasting computer hardware and software. Using their fingers they will show understanding using the following scale:

• 1 finger - I have my information and am ready to move on.
• 2 fingers - I have my information, but I am still writing them down.
• 3 fingers - I am still reading the material.
• 4 fingers - I have some of the information but I need help to find more.
• 5 fingers - I need help getting started with finding the information.

The note-taking graphic organizer will be gathered and accessed to determine the level of understanding about computer hardware and software.

Approximate Duration: 20-45 minutes.

Materials/Resources

• Pebble Go using these instructions: Pebble Go (accessed through Alabama Virtual Library - Click on “Elementary School'' Click on “Pebble Go” Click on “Science” then click on “Technology” then click on “Computers” then access the article on Computer Hardware and the article on Computer Software. Picture instructions can be found here).
• Each student will need a copy of the Note-taking graphic organizer
• Internet Capable Devices for the teacher and the students
• Projector or interactive whiteboard
• Epic! ebooks (for acceleration only) This is a free resource, but the teacher will have to create an account.

Background/Preparation

The teacher will need to be familiar with navigating through articles on Pebble Go. They will also need to be familiar with using Google Drawings in order to edit and/or print out the note-taking organizer.
The students need to be familiar with navigating a website and curating information from an article.

Acceleration - In addition to reading the two articles on Pebble Go, these students may choose a book about computer hardware and software from Epic! to read and curate information. They may choose their facts from either the articles or the books. They should list on the note-taking organizer which facts come from Pebble Go and which facts come from the book they read on Epic!

Intervention - These students only need to gather one fact about computer hardware and software rather than two each. These students could also be pulled into a small group to go over the information again.

Your school librarian could be a great co-teacher for this lesson.

This activity will also be addressing the standard DLCS18.3.R5 Locate and curate information from digital sources to answer research questions.

This activity can be used in conjunction with the "Hardware and Software with Pebble Go" Parts 1 and 3.

Link to the Hardware and Software with Pebble Go Part 1 (before activity)

Link to the Hardware and Software with Pebble Go Part 3 (after activity)