3-5 Past, Present, Future Technologies (CI.3)
3-5.CI.3. participate in discussions about technologies (past, present, and future) to understand these technologies are the result of human creativity
Past Technology
BrainPOP Computer History
The main ideas for computer history listed below are from BrainPop. Once you have logged into BrainPOP using the secret username and password, choose:
1. Engineering and technology
2. Computers and Internet
3. Computer History and watch the video!
1. Engineering and technology
2. Computers and Internet
3. Computer History and watch the video!
1801 Loom for Weaving Cloth
BrainPOP describes a computer as "a machine that stores and processes information and can be programmed to carry out instructions. The first programmable machine was invented in 1801. It was a machine for weaving cloth called a loom. The loom was strung with punched cards that let colored thread through to form different patterns".
Punch Cards
Punch cards were later used to store numbers and other data then fed through punch card machines.
Punch Card Machines
The government used punch card machines to count how many people there were in the United States in 1890.
Early Computers
In the 1900's, computers started to improve. A number of machines could claim the title of "first computer" depending on your definition of the word 'computer'. Alot of the early computers were built by hand, so each machine was one of a kind, really expensive and fragile. These early computers were huge, taking up whole rooms that had to be specially air conditioned to the computer would not overheat.
Transistors
In 1959, miniature electronic circuits were invented. This meant that millions of transistors, the switches that control the flow of electricity in a computer, could be mass produced. Transistors were tiny compared to the vacuum tubes they replaced.
Microprocessor Chip
Computers became even smaller and more powerful with the invention of the microprocessor, a chip that could hold thousands of transistors and other electrical parts. This made computers small, cheap, fast and affordable for everyone. By the 1970's, there were hand held calculators that were more powerful than those room sized computers of the 1940's.
Smaller Chips = Smaller Computers
Microprocessors kept getting smaller and now millions of transistors can fit on a chip the size of a finger nail! Computers have worked their way into other technologies too from household appliacances, to cars, to toys. Computers are likely to get smaller, faster, cheaper and more powerful for a long time.
More Past Technology Resources
Creativity Using Technology Tools
When you are done with BrainPop, add slides to your GoAnimate project to show what you know about technology from the past. There are more past technology resources above, in addition to BrainPOP, if you need them.
