January 27th
Build Sisterhood:
"if you had a magic wand, what would you change in the world?"
Key Vocabulary for the Day:
Code: What people use to describe the steps a computer program should take.
Input: The information and instructions that you give to the computer.
Output: How a computer behaves based on a combination of your input and the code of the program.
Process: The program that is running on your computer or device. It is how your computer turns your input into output!
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Questions to Ponder from pages 11-18:
Based on what you've read, what do you think coding is?
What might you want to build using code?
Think of your own examples where an input starts a process. What is the output?
The book provided some reasons why learning to code is important. Which reason seemed most important to you?
SPOTLIGHT:
ENIAC Programmers
Computers of today can fit easily into a backpack or pocket. However, did you know that the first digital computers took up entire rooms? The first all-electronic digital computer, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, or ENIAC for short, was built in the 1940s.
In total, it weighed more than 27 tons and took up 1,800 square feet. That means the first computer weighed about the same as 6 full-grown elephants! Good luck fitting that in your backpack...
The ENIAC was used by Allied forces in World War II to calculate missile trajectories. Six women programmers were responsible for working with this revolutionary machine. Their names were Kay McNulty, Betty Jennings, Betty Snyder, Marlyn Meltzer, Fran Bilas, and Ruth Lichterman.
Together, they developed one of the first sorting algoritms and software applications. They are regarded as some of the first modern computer scientists. Watch the video below to learn more about the ENIAC Programmers' accomplishments and their innovations that helped the US Army during the mid 20th Century.
Online Activity:
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Photo used under Creative Commons from BAMCorp