44 Year 7 and 8 students had the chance to visit the Computing History Centre in Cambridge on 11th May. A few of those who went give us an insight into what they got up to.
Bethany High, Year 7, explains what she was able to do during the trip:
Taking part in the coding activity to make the car move.
‘Cambridge was loads of fun! My first activity was programming where we had to type codes into a blank document to make a car move forwards, backwards and to stop. Next we went on a tour of the museum. We had to put the computer storage devices in order from oldest to newest. Then we got to play some old computer games and surprisingly they were fun! I really enjoyed going to Cambridge on the computing trip and would definitely recommend it to others!’
Ruby Dagless, Year 7, also really enjoyed the trip and said:
‘Lots of year 7s too part in an ‘all about computers’ trip in Cambridge. We learnt about the development of computers since they were the size of a house! We were split into 3 groups and we all took part in different activities throughout the day. May favourite activity was when we played on all the different consoles from over the last few decades. We also learnt how to programme a computer to move a mini car (using the computer programme raspberry pi). I learnt a lot on this trip and would recommend it for future Year 7s.’
Sophie Stamp, Year 8, went along and really enjoyed the experience. She said:
Learning about how computers have developed over time.
‘In the Computing History trip, it was incredibly interesting and fun. It was interesting because we saw what computers are made up of and how they function. We also saw the very first business computers and how big they were to complete the smallest of activities. Then we saw the very first home computers, they were mainly used for coding and programming but they could also be used for games. Some fun parts of the day were that we got to control a vehicle by coding on the computers to program the wheels to spin so we could move it forward. Another fun part was that we could play on the old consoles including the very first Nintendo console that was released in 1983. We also played on the first Xbox and PlayStation consoles. There was also mortal combat on the old arcade machines! As the gaming devices had the very first graphics that were developed for consoles and the had the first controllers, they were hard to control and hard to play on but they were fun to have a go with.’
Overall, it appeared to be a very informative and interesting trip. Thanks to Miss Rooney for organising!
Gaining a high score on the ever popular Pacman!
Computers have certainly come a long way over the years!
