On September 6, Mrs. Leanne Elsemore’s computer science class broke apart and rebuilt computers to better acquaint themselves with the inner working of their class’s focus. The task was to remove the RAM, power supply, DVD, and hard drive from the computer and successfully reassemble the device to working order.

“The purpose of this assignment is to give students the tactile knowledge of how computers work. So when people use different computer jargon they can say, “oh yeah, I remember that, I touched that, I put it back together,”‘ said Elsemore.

This is Elsemore’s second year teaching the class at Linganore, but she has prior experience with this project from her time teaching hardware and networking. She thinks that the knowledge gained from hands-on teaching like this is critical for the course.

“In order to understand computer science you have to know how to take apart and build one,” said Brendan Connors, Class of 2020. “The hardest part is knowing what each piece does. There’s no labels, so you have to actually recognize what everything is.”

The project forces students to know not only what’s in a computer, but also how the parts interact to operate the machine. The pieces are delicate and can be difficult to remove, but the students all expressed enthusiasm for the activity.

“The first days were just history of computers and stuff, but today was awesome,” said Kate Stadter, Class of 2020. “I think the class is going to be hard, but really fun.”