Computer Science Presentation

Today was great day of 4H learning and giving back.  We started out early this afternoon to get to our local library of choice.  They have had a great exhibit about the weather and how it effects the earth for several weeks.  Today was the last day of the exhibit and they ended with one of our favorite foresters presenting information about the drought and wildfire in Texas.  I thought this was a great way for the boys to see a different aspect of wildlife and nature.  We were quite pleased with the presentation.  Thank you Mr. Nightingale for the information!

Then we headed over to the extension office in time to set up for a Computer Science presentation.  We were asked to do this presentation because our club had never had this project.  We wanted to show everyone what we had learned.  The group had taken a part of the computer and created a slide to tell about its importance to the computer.  It was not until all the slides were placed in one power point presentation that we would be able to practice for the presentation.  I took all the slides and added a few transitions between and made sure it was all formatted correctly.  However, the 4H members did the bulk of the work.

So, we got everyone together an hour before the meeting to practice what we would say.  Practice was a little rough but not too bad.  I was a little worried that we were not ready but "the show must go on" so we were going to make the best of it.  We also asked one of our members to help out since he had shown interest in the project.  I thought it was important to not have a serious presentation because it would be boring to just read from a slide.  So, I added a few jokes and funny graphics along the way.

The time came for us to present and I think we were all a little nervous, but you know what, it turned out great!  Our Vice President (Katy) introduced us and said how proud she was of us for starting a new project for our club...that was nice of her!  Then I had the group start out with a joke:

Why does a computer not like tennis?

Because it surfs the net!

LOl.....ha....right?  Well, maybe not....but as I told the club...the Computer Science project would have been a complete joke if I had led this project...that is why were so thankful to my husband for taking part of his time off for a few weeks to help lead this project.  He did a great job and I did not want ANYONE to think that I knew anything about computers!

Then we got into the serious presentation with the group talking about the different parts of a computer.  Well, maybe not so serious...but packed full of information to let the club know that we had learned about the parts of the computer.  We had golden retrievers representing the output.  Attics for the hard drive.  And, nose and smell to explain hardware and software.  But the best joke was one our reluctant project member wanted to take out.  I encouraged him to keep it in (I hated changing the presentation at the last minute!).  He joked around a little before the meeting but one he got going during the actual presentation he really did a great job improv...he was a hit!  Telling the club about the cooling system...he said there needed to be a fan....but not your football fan...the kind you see turning around on your ceiling...and it went crazy from there!  However, he got his point across...the cooling system is a VERY important part of the computer!

Everyone clapped and cheered and we quickly left the stage...glad we were able to show the club what we learned and give back to a small part of the community...but not wanting center stage!

Great job Computer Science members...I hope you are looking forward to the next sessions in the fall when my husband returns.  We would really like to learn about robotics with all of you and more!

Also, we could not end the night without a game and refreshments!  A big thank you to the families who brought the snacks.  It was fun to have the insect theme on the back table.  A great way to remind us the the insects are back along with our Entomology project!  We are looking forward to another year of learning about insects with some more of our awesome foresters!  More on this next week after our first meeting.

Henry did a great job of teaching the club a different version of Duck-duck-goose.  We changed it up to keep with our presentation theme....CPU-CPU-Hard drive!  And the one trying to get away had to say input-output before being able to be safe.  The ones who participated had a lot of fun!

Another great night with our 4H friends.  Henry said he was glad he did not have prizes for the game because the real prize was enjoying the game with friends.  And that just shows that 4H really does "make the best better!"