Shaun Ruigrok, 9 Aqua

Year 9 LTL

Personal Project

Big question: How the progression of computer technology has allowed for incredible new technologies that assist us in our lives.

Small questions:

How have computers progressed from filling rooms to the uses of today, e.g. the Internet?
How have mobile phones changed over the past 2 decades, and how they are being used today?
What progressions in Sciences have been facilitated by the use of computers?
How have modern technologies been integrated to assist learning in the classroom?

Research:

1– Computers

ENIAC, short for Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer, was the first general-purpose, electronic computer. It wasa Turing-complete digital computer capable of being reprogrammed to solve a full range of computing problems.

ENIAC was designed to calculate artillery firing tables for the United States Army's Ballistic Research Laboratory, but its first use was in calculations for the hydrogen bomb. When ENIAC was announced in 1946 it was heralded in the press as a "Giant Brain". It boasted speeds one thousand times faster than electro-mechanical machines.

As of 1997, a square chip of silicon measuring 0.25 inches (8 mm) on a side holds the same capacity as the ENIAC, which occupied a large room.

CSIRAC was Australia's first digital computer, and the fourth stored program computer in the world. It was first to play digital music.

In the evolution of computers their first generation was characterized by the use of vacuum tubes. These computers were expensive and bulky. They used machine language for computing.

Stanford Research Institute brought about ERMA in 1959, Electronic Recording Machine Accounting Project, which dealt with automation of the process of bookkeeping in banking.

The use of Integrated circuits ushered in the third generation of computers. Small transistors placed on silicon chips, called semi conductors. This increased the speed and efficiency of computers. Operating systems were the human interface to computing operations and keyboards and monitors became the input-output devices.

In 1968, DEC launched the first mini computer called the PDP-8.

In 1969, the development of ARPANET began with the financial backing of the Department Of Defence. This would later become known as the Internet.

Thousands of integrated circuits placed onto a silicon chip made up a microprocessor. Introduction of microprocessors was the hallmark of fourth generation computers.

Intel produced large-scale integration circuits in 1971. During the same year, Micro Computer came up with microprocessor and Ted Hoff, working for Intel introduced 4-bit 4004.

In 1972, Intel introduced the 8080 microprocessors.

In 1974, Xerox came up with Alto workstation at PARC. It consisted of a monitor, a graphical interface, a primitive mouse, and an Ethernet card for networking.

Apple Computer, Inc. brought about the Macintosh personal computer on January 24 1984. It was the first “personal computer” with a user-friendly mouse-based input instead of the previous text command line-based interface. Almost all computers today utilise the Graphical User Interface (GUI) for their operation.

Bibliography:

2 – Mobile Phones

Past…

The first handheld cellular phone was demonstrated by Martin Cooper of Motorola in 1973, using a handset weighing 2 kg (4.4 lb). In the year 1990, 12.4 million people worldwide had cellular subscriptions. By the end of 2009, only 20 years later, the number of mobile cellular subscriptions worldwide reached approximately 4.6 billion, 370 times the 1990 number, penetrating the developing economies and reaching the bottom of the economic pyramid.

The first mobile telephone call made from a car occurred in St. Louis, Missouri, USA on June 17, 1946, but the system was impractical from what is considered a portable handset today. The equipment weighed 80 lbs, and the AT&T service, basically a massive party line, cost $30 USD per month (equal to $334.15 today) plus 30 to 40 cents per local call, equal to $3.34 to $4.46 today.

Martin Cooper, a Motorola researcher and executive is considered to be the inventor of the first practical mobile phone for hand-held use in a non-vehicle setting, after a long race against Bell Labs for the first portable mobile phone. Using a modern, if somewhat heavy portable handset, Cooper made the first call on a hand-held mobile phone on April 3, 1973 to his rival, Dr. Joel S. Engel of Bell Labs.

The first commercially automated cellular network (the 1G generation) was launched in Japan by NTT in 1979, initially in the metropolitan area of Tokyo. Within five years, the NTT network had been expanded to cover the whole population of Japan and became the first nation-wide 1G network. The first 1G network launched in the USA was Chicago based Ameritech in 1983 using the Motorola DynaTAC mobile phone.

Present…

The first "modern" network technology on digital 2G (second generation) cellular technology was launched by Radiolinja (now part of Elisa Group) in 1991 in Finland.

In 2001 the first commercial launch of 3G (Third Generation) was again in Japan by NTT DoCoMo on the WCDMA standard.[10]

One of the newest 3G technologies to be implemented is High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA). It is an enhanced 3G mobile communications and features higher data transfer speeds and capacity.

Smartphones…

The first smartphone was called Simon, designed by IBM in 1992. It featured a calendar, address book, world clock, calculator, note pad, e-mail and could send and receive fax. It had no physical buttons to dial with. Instead it utilised a basic monochrome touch screen display, operated with a stylus. Text was entered with a unique on-screen "predictive" keyboard. By today's standards, the Simon would be a very low-end product; however, its feature set at the time was incredibly advanced.

In addition to being a telephone, modern mobile phones also support many additional services, and accessories, such as SMS & MMS messaging, email, Internet access, gaming, Bluetooth short range wireless communication, camera, MP3 player, radio and GPS.

Low-end mobile phones are often referred to as feature phones, whereas high-end mobile phones that offer more advanced computing ability are referred to as smartphones.

A smartphone is a mobile phone that offers more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary basic feature phone.Smartphones may be thought of as handheld computers integrated within a mobile telephone. Asmartphone such as the iPhone allows the user to install and run advanced applications based on a specific platform.

According to a study by ComScore, over 45.5 million people in the United States owned smartphones in 2010 and it is the fastest growing segment of the mobile phone market, which comprised 234 million subscribers in the United States.

Bibliography

3 – Progressions in Science facilitated by computers

Computers used in scientific research enable researchers across the country to share data with others, making it easier to collaborate and share ideas and facts quickly.

Computers have changed the ways in which scientific research is compiled and analysed. Scientists, engineers and researchers alike are able to compile vast amounts of data and leave it to the computer to work through the data while focusing on another area of the research project. This creates research results with fewer errors and better-engineered products.

Computers used in scientific research have the ability to analyse data in ways and at speeds not possible by humans. They are able to analyse percentages of materials present in a variety of compounds from soil samples to chemicals and even the air you breathe. Additionally, computers used in this manner can determine trends in data samples. For example, computer analysis of data in research could determine the temperature at which certain chemical compounds break down or the percentages of improvement patients show when administered a certain medication.

Solving Mathematical Equations

Scientific research often requires that complex mathematical equations be solved in order to determine if data is valid or if a certain structure of molecules will remain stable. Computers are integral to this calculation process since scientists can write software programs specifically to provide answers to such questions. This removes the element of human error, which can cost research institutions millions of dollars in fixing a product that was created with even the smallest amount of flawed data.

Prediction Modelling

Scientists and researchers are able to use computer programs to model how data might manifest itself in the future. This ability is useful in predicting climate patterns, simulating how engineered products might perform in the field, predicting the erosion rate of beaches and anticipating the absorption rate of medications in the body. Scientists and engineers are then able to adjust building strategies or chemical compositions of products to ensure safe operation and consumption.

Bibliography

4 – Integration of modern technology in the classroom

With the recent advent of tablet or slate computers, such as Tablet PCs or the Apple iPad, what you see on the blackboard can now be integrated with these new computers.

Class notes go from the screen at the front of the room to each student's computer where note taking is easy, eliminating piles of messy and unorganised notes before tests, instead everything is in one document.

Curriculum textbooks can beinstalled right onto the tablets, eliminating the need to carry around multiple paper textbooks to each class.

Research has also shown immediate learning advantages. The handheld PCs allow a much higher level of interaction between the teachers and students. Teachers can embed web pages and video into the class notes automatically.

However, handheld PCs have a number of drawbacks to them. This can include issues with battery life on the devices. In an attempt to conserve power, students have been dimming the screens. This can put a strain on their eyes.

However, the technology is improving with better batteries allowing longer times between charges.

Research has already shown that student grades have improved with the trial of handheld computers in a school in Ohio. The future of handheld computers in the classroom looks promising, and should prove to be extremely beneficial to students.

Bibliography