Hardware, software and the path of data
Computer ScienceComputers & HardwareAges 12–13
Use it with your class: students open it from a link or a QR code, with no account needed.
Next in Computers & Hardware
A block diagram of a computer with an input device, a CPU (control unit and arithmetic-logic unit), main memory (RAM), secondary storage and an output device. Click each block to see its function and example devices. Pick a familiar task (open a file, calculate, save a file, print), then press Run to watch the data move step by step through the blocks, with a sentence describing the step in progress.
Lesson: Computer components: input/output devices, processor, memory and software
What it shows
Every computing task follows the input, process, output cycle. The block diagram links input devices, the CPU with its control unit and arithmetic-logic unit, RAM, secondary storage and output devices. RAM is fast but volatile, so it holds only the programs and data in use, while secondary storage keeps files when the power is off; the CPU can work only on data that has first been loaded into RAM. An optional layer shows how application software runs on the operating system, which controls the hardware.
How to use
Click each block to read its function and example devices. Choose What the computer is doing, for example Open a saved file, then press Step to move through the task one stage at a time, or Run to animate it. Before each step, ask students to predict the next block the data will reach. Compare opening and saving a file to show data moving between RAM and secondary storage in opposite directions.
Parameters you can change
- What the computer is doing Open a saved file, Compute a typed calculation, Save the file being edited, Print a document
- Simulation speed 1–5 x
- Show group labels (input / process / output)
- Show the system and application software layer
Questions to explore
- When you save a file, which blocks does the data pass through and in what order?
- Why is unsaved work lost when the power goes off, but saved files are not?
- How does system software differ from application software, and which one controls the hardware?
