My friend, the computer
Have you ever tried talking to a computer? Unfortunately, the machine doesn’t understand our language. The computer doesn’t speak German or English. Instead, there are only 1s and 0s. Still, somehow the computer manages to show us information and help us or entertain us. This week, we will explain how computers speak and think. The next Pop-Up Science fun is just a click away!
Activities for this week
- A universal language: Code
- Interview with computer scientist Thomas Henzinger
- Experiment “The blind robot“
- Worksheet “Computer science“
A universal language: Code
If you want to tell a computer what to do, you need code. After yesterday’s enthusiastic talk about codes and programming by our computer scientist Tom Henzinger, we want to show you how you can learn code, too. We have two useful tools for you:
https://code.org – This website aims to expand and promote access to computer science in schools.
https://scratch.mit.edu – With Scratch, you can program your own interactive stories, games and animations, and share your creations with others.
If you already have some coding experience, you coul create your own small project in Scratch and submit it to our school competition. Find more information about it in this video. The deadline for entries is April 30, 2020.
Computer scientist Thomas Henzinger
Today, you had the opportunity to ask Thomas Henzinger all you ever wanted to know about computers. You have sent us many questions, and here are now all the answers from computer expert Thomas. Thomas is researcher at IST Austria, where he studies concurrent and embedded Systems.
Watch the corresponding video on YouTube
The blind robot
Robots and computers talk in very simple but clear commands. To us humans, this often seems strange. To understand how computers speak, our junior researchers Eva and Elisabeth have come up with a game. Can you lead the blind robot out of the maze?
Watch the corresponding video on YouTube
Computer science
Did you know that the first computer would have filled almost your entire living room? Unfortunately, that wasn’t very practical. Here, we have collected some more exciting facts for you. Can you answer all the questions?
