Help making building a computer a credited class

[peepsmama]

My son will be going into 9th grade this year.  He is very interested in computers, and moreso in the hardware side than any programming.  He has asked his dad if he can build his own computer this year and they are planning to work on that.  I was wondering if maybe you had some suggestions for how to make this project into a semester .5 credit and how you would list it. I was thinking if I can't find anything formal then I could get a couple of books on the subject for him to read, but I would really like to find something online that might be more organized.  

 

Thanks!

 

[kiana]

Christian Light has a full-credit course on Computer Service and Repair, including a study guide and tests. http://www.clp.org/store/by_course/110 (computer basics, the prerequisite course, is VERY basic)

[regentrude]

I think if it is just building a computer, that would be extremely light for a half credit because really, there is not all that much to it.

We incorporated the hardware side and building a computer into  1 credit computer skills class we did cumulatively over the course of four years, and which also included software instruction, html programming and more. I have 0.25 credits for computer skills each year and listed the cumulative content of the course in the course description.

[Arcadia]

I was thinking if I can't find anything formal then I could get a couple of books on the subject for him to read, but I would really like to find something online that might be more organized.

If computer hardware is what he like, maybe do a CompTia A+ certification course at a continuing education center or a community college. My local high school students are given that option by the district but I forgot how many credits it counts for.

 

Example of a course syllabus

https://services.cpcc.edu/cceoutlines/DPT7011/

 

Texas high school students taking CompTia certifications exams and getting jobs

"Texas High School Students Use IT Certifications as Motivation, Means To Succeed"

http://certification.comptia.org/news/2013/12/17/texas-high-school-students-use-it-certifications-as-motivation-means-to-succeed

 

Another school district that use CompTia courses for high school and college credit

http://whs.d214.org/academics/computer_repair.aspx

[In The Great White North]

Include this course:

 

https://class.stanford.edu/courses/Engineering/CS101/Summer2014/info

 

Week 3 covers computer hardware, so there's a connection

[AmyontheFarm]

This just came through my FB feed.  Your students can study these courses for free.  Read the post on the allinonehighschool website to get the free coupon code.

http://allinonehighschool.com/2014/08/03/free-computer-courses-for-homeschoolers-only/

 

Self-paced Courses

Ajax

HR

Microsoft Products (you name it, it's mostly offered)

Apache Web Server

HTML

Business Management

Java Fundamentals

Java Script

CSS

and many more

[daijobu]

Would it make sense to turn it into an electronics course?  You could use the projects in Make: Electronics to make an elective course, which is what I'm going. 

[MrSmith]

The actual building of a consumer-level desktop computer really boils down to connecting various large-scale parts together, and will likely not take more than a few hours to a day, even for the most novice builder (I'm assuming a passing familiarity with the various terms, enough so that they are understood when encountered in the instructions).  As such I think it would be tough to create a half credit course just for that.

 

Since he's more into hardware, check out the Raspberry Pi.  It's a nifty little piece of computer hardware (emphasis on little!) that runs about $35: http://www.raspberrypi.org

 

Also, have you considered making the project into a semester-long research paper?  That way, the building of the computer can be the culmination of all the research, while the half credit can easily be justified by the research and the resultant paper.

 

Some ideas for what might go into the paper:

 

* History of computing (here computing meaning electrical or mechanical)

      a. Famous people:  Charles Babbage, Ada Lovelace, Alan Turing, Gordon Moore, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, etc. (no shortage here)

      b. Timeline of computing (major events in evolutionary history of computing hardware and software, perhaps also of computer science and/or of theory of computing)

 

* Computer hardware

      a. Decrease in size over time (vacuum tubes vs. transistors; Moore's Law; desktops -> laptops -> tablets -> phones -> watches -> ???)

      b. Personal computer architecture (IBM PC vs. Apple; Intel vs. PowerPC)

      c. Various components that go into a modern personal computer.  Plenty of potential topics for discussion in this area.  Can be as detailed or terse as you like, depending on the interest.

          i. Motherboard, CPU, RAM, hard drive, video card

          ii. Why heat dissipation is important ("heat sink").  Can even tie physics into here by discussing why the CPU gets hot in the first place.

          iii. How do all the parts talk to each other?

      d. Difference between consumer-level computer ("desktops", "laptops") vs. industrial or military-grade computers ("embedded systems", "single board computers")

 

* Computer software: Operating systems (e.g., Windows, MacOS, UNIX), programming languages (e.g., assembly, BASIC, C/C++, Ada, Java, HTML, Perl, Python)

 

 

[Lanny]

I don't see how that project could be a one semester course. Once you have all of the components, the actual assembly should only take a few hours. Follow a tutorial on the web. Dell probably assembles a PC in 20 minutes, but they have practice.  http://www.tomshardware.com/ is one site that might help. GL.

[peepsmama]

Thanks for all of the suggestions!

[CyndiLJ]

Our son did this last year, and we ended up giving him .25 credit.  However, in addition to simply building a computer, he had to do quite a bit of specific research into what hardware was higher end for advanced AutoCAD work, researched 3D printer for an eventual purchase and learned how they function as well as attended an evening seminar on them.  He also spent many hours learning about routers, solutions for small business wifi needs, problem solved for our high usage home, made two mistakes, wired our house for various extensions stations, learned about microwave technology for high speed internet, and spoke with a local internet provider to learn more.  He also learned how to replace keyboards and screens on laptops.  I felt quite comfortable with a .25 credit, but wouldn't have given him more than that.  He is not interested in programming, but is very interested in CAD and hardware.

[JanetC]

Learning how to properly optimize a computer is actually hard  work: How much of the performance is due to memory versus disk versus CPU speed.  A place to start reading component tests is the anandtech.com website.  Most of the tests are free to download from sites like github (so the same test can be run on different computers).

 

If you have the money to build it, profile it, swap out parts and see what changes, etc, this could easily be a half-credit course.