Display: Bits and Bytes

In the computer lab we are lucky to have a large, prominent display board. Sometimes it can be a challenge knowing what to put there, and I most recently had student work displayed. With the start of term 3 I decided to spruce things up a bit. This has been a display that I've been wanting to set up for a long time but I finally had all of the parts together to make it work. During the past year the IT technicians have been amazing at keeping outdated and broken bits of hardware aside for me. This is the result:

Bits and Bytes - hardware display

The first challenge was figuring out how to hang the keyboard. Luckily, there is a nail embedded in the wooden frame of the board, and after I wrapped the keyboard cable around it, it managed to hold the weight. The motherboard was also a tricky shape to hang, some of my colleagues suggested a 'picture-frame' arrangement which turned out great. The rest of the bits and bobs secured easily to the cork backing, mostly with drawing pins. 

Parts of the Computer

The display has already drawn curious eyes, especially thanks to the pop-out nature of all the physical pieces. The colourful yellow labels really livened up the place, too. I'm proud of the monitor that I'm created from a screenshot of a student's desktop and some recycled black-printed paper. 

What the display board looks like in the lab.

 I've left a bit of space to the right of the display, in case I'm able to track down a pair of worn-out speakers, earphones or headphones. I've had senior primary boys ask what some of the bits and pieces are. What's a floppy disc? I consider this display a great success.