Onward, Personal Computers: Virtual Resources from the​Paul Gray PC Museum

Our partner museum, the Paul Gray Personal Computing Museum (PGPCM), is pleased to share new online resources for students and educators!
 
Former MOTAL intern, Allison Koehler, has served as Executive Director of the PGPCM for the past two years. The primary focus of her tenure has been to develop education and public programming initiatives for the museum. She helped launch the museum’s ongoing speaker series, Decoding the Past: Conversations with PC Innovators, and created a curriculum to help students and educators engage with the museum’s collection.

The curriculum, available here, is inspired by the Paul Gray PC Museum’s mission to inspire creativity and innovation for all ages through engagement with technology. The lessons are designed to be adaptable and scalable across grade levels. The interactive timeline above, featuring many of the computers currently on display from the museum’s permanent collection, is the anchor piece for each lesson.

Lesson 1, The Future Is Now, is inspired by The Computer Lifestyle exhibit which introduces how personal computing developed as technology and user expectations changed. In this lesson, students will describe how computers have evolved over time, then apply that understanding to make predictions about future innovations. 


Lesson 2, How Small Can You Go, is inspired by the Portability exhibit which focuses on mobility and the arrival of the portable computers. In this lesson, students will (1) compare the weights of the personal computers over time using physical models, (2) utilize line graphs to illustrate trends in portable computing, and (3) engage in a facilitated debate with their peers to apply their learning.


Lesson 3, A Feast for the Eyes, is inspired by the Multimedia Computers exhibit that provides examples of early multimedia computers, which offered color and high definition graphics to people then used to only a black and white experience. In this lesson, students will create a multimedia advertisement for an innovation they predicted in Lesson 1.


Lesson 4, A Team of Rivals, is inspired by the IBM Versus Apple exhibit which tracks the key rivalry that shaped the personal computing world, the products and sensibilities offered by IBM and Apple. In this lesson, students will compete in a series of team engineering challenges, then apply the experience to discuss how competition and collaboration fuel innovation.

The Paul Gray Personal Computing Museum is committed to serving audiences of all ages through creative engagement with technology. Please share these resources with the teachers and students in your networks!

Click on each of the above photos to learn more about these online resources.


Submitted by
Alison Koehler
Executive Director
CGU'S Paul Gray Personal Computing Museum
Former MOTAL Intern and Doll Scholar ​