Grade 6 Computing – Lesson 2: Analog vs

Digital Data; Processor & Storage

Lesson Objectives & Standards (Slide 1)
 Learning Objectives (I can...):
 I can explain why analog data must be digitized for computer
processing.
 I can identify units of data storage (bit, byte, kilobyte, megabyte,
gigabyte, terabyte).
 I can explain the role of the processor (CPU) in a computer system.
 I can explain the difference between primary memory (RAM) and
secondary storage in a computer.
 Cambridge Primary Computing Stage 6 Standard: Understanding
data representation, memory, and the CPU (Standards 6CS.03, 6CS.04,
6CS.05, 6CS.06).

Essential Question & Real-World Context (Slide 2)

Essential Question: How do computers convert real-world information to
digital form, and what role do the CPU and memory play in processing and
storing data?
 UAE Connection: The UAE is actively using digitization in many areas.
For example, analog historical documents are being scanned and
archived as digital files. Weather stations and other sensors convert
analog readings (temperature, humidity, etc.) into digital data for
analysis.
 Smart Cities: Projects like Dubai’s smart city initiative generate
massive amounts of digital data from analog sensors (traffic cameras,
air quality monitors, etc.). These data (measured in gigabytes or
terabytes) are stored in data centers for processing. This reflects UAE
Vision 2021’s emphasis on technological innovation and a knowledge-
based economy.

Key Vocabulary (Slide 3)

 Analog Data: Information in a continuous form (e.g. sound waves,
thermometer mercury level). Analog signals vary smoothly and have
infinitely fine gradations.
 Digital Data (Digitize): Information converted into discrete numeric
form (binary 0s and 1s) so that a computer can store and process it. To
digitize means to sample or measure an analog signal and represent it
with numbers.
  Bit: A binary digit – the smallest unit of data in computing. A bit can
only have two values: 0 or 1 (off or on, false or true).
 Byte: A group of 8 bits. For example, 1 byte can represent one
character (like a letter or number) in text.
 Kilobyte (KB): Approximately 1,000 bytes. (In exact binary terms, 1
KB = 1024 bytes, but we often round to 1000 for simplicity.)
 Megabyte (MB): Approximately 1,000 KB (about one million bytes).
For example, a small MP3 music file or a high-resolution photo might
be a few MB in size.
 Gigabyte (GB): Approximately 1,000 MB (about one billion bytes). For
example, a USB flash drive or smartphone storage might be tens of GB.
 Terabyte (TB): Approximately 1,000 GB (about one trillion bytes).
Used to measure very large storage (e.g. entire hard drives or data
center storage capacity).
 Processor (CPU): The Central Processing Unit, often called the
“brain” of the computer. It executes instructions and performs
calculations, controlling other components.
 Primary Memory (RAM): Random Access Memory, the fast,
temporary memory that a computer uses to store data and programs
while they are being used or processed. This memory is volatile
(cleared when power is off).
 Secondary Storage: Long-term storage such as a hard disk drive
(HDD), solid state drive (SSD), or flash memory. It holds data
permanently (or until erased) – e.g. documents, photos, applications –
even when the computer is turned off.

Do Now – Guided Practice (Slide 4)

 Analog Sound Demo: Listen to a short music clip and look at its
waveform display on the computer. The waveform is an analog
representation of sound (a continuous wave).
 Digital Hint: Next, look at a simplified representation of that sound on
the computer as a series of numbers or binary code. This shows how
the analog sound is stored digitally (as a sequence of numbers
representing the wave).
 Think-Pair-Share: “How do you think this music is stored on our MP3
player or phone?” – Discuss. Guide students to realize the music must
be converted into numbers (digital form) for the device to store and
play it.
 Units Teaser: Show a quick example of units conversion (e.g. hold up
a 1 cm object and show on screen “1.00 cm = 0.01 m”). Explain this is
analogous to how we use different units like bytes, KB, MB to measure
data – segue into today’s topic on data units.
I Do – Modelling: Analog vs Digital Conversion (Slide 5)
 Analog vs Digital: Explain that computers work with digital data
(numbers/binary). Real-world information (sound, images,
temperature, etc.) is often analog and must be digitized (turned into
numbers) for a computer to process it.
 Example – Microphone: When we speak or sing into a microphone,
our voice is an analog sound wave. The computer’s sound card
samples this wave at intervals and converts each sample into a
number (quantization). The result is a stream of numbers (digital
audio) that approximates the original wave.
 Visualization: Draw or show a smooth wave (analog signal) versus a
"stair-step" or plotted points wave (digital samples). Emphasize how
the continuous analog wave becomes discrete data points.
 Key Point: Once analog data is digitized into 0s and 1s, the computer
can store it, copy it, and process it without loss of quality. This is why
analog data must be converted to digital – because the CPU and
memory can only handle binary data.

I Do – Modelling: Bits, Bytes, and Data Units (Slide 6)

 Bits & Light Bulbs: Introduce the concept of a bit using an example:
a light bulb can be OFF (0) or ON (1). That’s a bit – the simplest piece
of information. Show how multiple bits can represent more complex
information (2 bits can make 4 combinations, etc., though detail is
optional).
 1 Byte = 8 Bits: Group 8 hypothetical “lights” or use 8 small objects
(like 8 beads or candies) to illustrate a byte. A byte is enough to store
one character (like the letter "A" or a single pixel’s simple color).
 Data Unit Scale: Explain larger units:
 Kilobyte (KB): ~1,000 bytes. Example: A short text document (a few
paragraphs) might be a few KB.
 Megabyte (MB): ~1,000 KB (1e6 bytes). Example: A high-quality
photo or a 3-minute MP3 song (~3–5 MB). One floppy disk (old tech)
was 1.44 MB – tiny by today’s standards.
 Gigabyte (GB): ~1,000 MB (1e9 bytes). Example: A basic DVD movie
(~4 GB), or the storage of a smartphone (e.g., 64 GB can hold
thousands of photos or songs).
 Terabyte (TB): ~1,000 GB (1e12 bytes). Example: Total storage in a
modern computer or big external drive (e.g., 1 TB can store about
250,000 songs or hundreds of movies).
 Perspective/Analogy: Emphasize the scale – each unit is about 1,000
times bigger than the previous. It’s like units of length (mm, cm, m,
km) but for data. This helps understand why big data (like video files or
datasets) are measured in GB or TB.
I Do – Modelling: The CPU and Memory (Slide 7)
 Processor (CPU): Show an image of a CPU chip and explain it is the
brain of the computer. It fetches instructions (from memory),
executes computations, and controls all the other components. Every
action (opening an app, pressing a key) goes through the CPU’s
processing.
 Speed: (Optional) Mention that CPUs work at very high speeds (billions
of operations per second) and speed is measured in GHz. A faster CPU
can execute more instructions per second.
 Primary Memory (RAM): Explain that RAM is the computer’s
working memory. It’s like a desk or workspace where active tasks
and data are kept for quick access. When you open a program or file, it
gets loaded into RAM so the CPU can access it quickly.
 Secondary Storage: Contrast RAM with secondary storage (hard
drives, SSDs). This is long-term storage, like a filing cabinet where
all data is kept when not in use. It holds stuff even when the power is
off (unlike RAM). However, it’s slower for the CPU to access compared
to RAM.
 Analogy: Use an analogy to tie it together – for example, a desk and
a filing cabinet. The desk (RAM) is where you lay out papers you’re
actively working on (fast access, limited space). The filing cabinet
(hard drive/SSD) is where you store all papers when you’re not working
on them (lots of space, but slower to fetch something from it). The CPU
is like you (the worker) who moves information from the cabinet to the
desk when needed, works on it, and then stores it back.

We Do – Guided Practice (Slide 8)

 Analog or Digital? As a class, decide whether certain objects or
formats are analog or digital:
 Example: A vinyl record vs. an MP3 music file – which is analog (record)
and which is digital (MP3)? Why? (Discuss how a record physically
stores a continuous groove, while an MP3 is stored as binary data.)
 Do the same for examples like a traditional thermometer (analog) vs. a
digital thermometer (digital reading), or a film camera (analog) vs. a
digital camera.
 Data Unit Estimation: Work through a quick estimation problem
together:
 Question: “If a text ebook is about 500 KB, approximately how many
such books could fit in 1 MB?”
 Let students reason it out: 1 MB is 1000 KB (roughly), so about 2 books
of 500 KB each could fit into 1 MB. (Answer: ~2 books per MB.)
 Extend: How many in a 2 MB file? (~4 books), etc., to reinforce the
idea of scaling.
  CPU & RAM in Action (Class Analogy): Do a role-play or thought
experiment:
 Imagine the teacher is the CPU and students’ desks are RAM. The
teacher gives out instructions or tasks (like handing papers to
students). If a desk (RAM) is very small or cluttered, the student
struggles to work – everything slows down because they must
constantly swap papers with a cabinet (storage).
 Discuss: What happens if we have more RAM (bigger desks)? (Answer:
The CPU/teacher can give more tasks at once without slowing down,
because more can fit on the desk at one time.)
 What if the CPU (teacher) is slow? (Even with a big desk, if the teacher
takes too long to go between students, things are slow. Both CPU
speed and sufficient RAM are important for performance.)

You Do – Independent Practice (Slide 9)

 Unit Conversions: Solve a couple of quick conversion problems on
your own:
 1,024 bytes = ____ KB (Hint: 1,024 bytes is about 1 KB since 1 KB =
1024 bytes).
 5,000 KB ≈ ____ MB (Hint: 1,000 KB ~ 1 MB, so 5,000 KB ~ 5 MB).
 Bonus: 2 MB = ____ KB (Hint: 1 MB ~ 1000 KB, so 2 MB ~ 2000 KB).
 File Size Table: Fill in a table of common file types and typical sizes.
For example:
 Document (text file) – maybe around tens of KB.
 Photo (high resolution) – a few MB (e.g., ~2–5 MB).
 Song (MP3 audio) – a few MB (e.g., ~3–5 MB for 3-4 minutes).
 Short Video (e.g., 1 minute of HD video) – tens of MB.
 Movie (full-length HD movie) – hundreds of MB or a few GB (e.g., 700
MB to 2 GB).
 Key Term Definitions: In your own words, write one-sentence
definitions or explanations for:
 "RAM (primary memory) is …"
 "CPU (processor) is …"
 "Secondary storage is …" This will help check your understanding of
these concepts.
 Hands-on Byte Building: (If materials provided) Take 8 small objects
(like beads or blocks). Group them together to physically represent 1
byte. This concrete activity reinforces that 8 bits = 1 byte.

Differentiated Support – Task Levels (Slide 10)

Different students can work on tasks suited to their level. All cover the same
concepts with appropriate support: - Level 1 (Basic Support): Use
concrete and visual aids. For example, provide 8 counters or beads and have
the student physically group them into a “byte.” Offer a partially filled
conversion chart (with some answers given) and have the student complete
the rest with guidance. Focus on identifying analog vs digital examples with
pictures to choose from, rather than open-ended. - Level 2 (Intermediate):
Students perform straightforward calculations with some guidance. For
instance, they calculate small unit conversions (e.g., 8,000 bytes = 8 KB)
showing their work. They can complete a matching exercise where they pair
terms to definitions (match “CPU” to “brain of computer,” etc.). Provide
sentence starters for definitions (e.g., “RAM is the memory that…”) to
scaffold their responses. - Level 3 (Advanced/Challenge): Students handle
larger scale problems and explore deeper. For example, pose a real-world
scenario: “Our smartphone has 64 GB of storage. If one song file is ~4 MB,
estimate how many songs can it store.” (They would calculate roughly
16,000 songs.) Encourage them to think about the analog-to-digital process
in more detail or come up with their own examples of analog data being
digitized. They can work more independently and even assist peers.

Support for Students of Determination (Slide 11)

For students of determination (special educational needs), use tailored
approaches at three levels to ensure understanding: - Level 1: Provide
visual cues and simplified content. For example, use icons or images to
represent each storage unit (a tiny icon for byte, slightly bigger for KB, etc.)
to build a visual size hierarchy. The student can practice by matching a file
icon (like a picture or song icon) to the correct unit label (MB for picture,
etc.). Limit text and use more verbal explanation and hands-on
demonstration (like turning a light on/off for a bit). - Level 2: Use
structured templates and partial information. Give the student a table
with some values filled in (e.g., “1 KB = 1000 B” provided) and have them fill
in the next easy one (“1 MB = 1000 KB”). Provide a word bank for definitions
so they can choose the correct words to fill in blanks (e.g., “CPU is the _ of
the computer” with options like brain, memory, screen). This level
still provides support but encourages the student to complete
thoughts. - Level 3: Focus on simple communication and peer
support. Have the student work with a partner to answer a few
basic concept questions verbally or with sentence strips. For
example, provide cut-out strips: “RAM is like a ” and “hard drive is like
a ___” with options (desk, cabinet). The pair can discuss and place the
correct analogy. Keeping language simple and concrete is key. The student
can also be allowed to respond orally or with drawings instead of written
responses, if that helps demonstrate understanding.

Extension Tasks for Gifted/Talented Students (Slide 12)

For students who grasp the material quickly and need an extra challenge,
offer enriched tasks at three levels: - Level 1 (Research & Report): Have
the student investigate a real-world tech question, such as: “What is the
processing speed (CPU clock rate) of a modern smartphone (e.g., latest
iPhone/Android) compared to a smartphone from 2015?” They can find the
information and present a short report or slide showing how CPU speeds (in
GHz) and number of cores have increased, and discuss what that means for
performance. - Level 2 (Creative Project): Ask the student to create a
visual chart or infographic that shows the hierarchy of data units from the
smallest to largest (Byte, KB, MB, GB, TB). They should include an example
of a file or device for each unit (e.g., “1 Byte ≈ one character of text,” “1 KB
~ a short poem,” “1 MB ~ a photo,” “1 GB ~ a video/movie or 250 songs,”
“1 TB ~ a backup drive or large database”). This helps them research and
contextualize the abstract numbers. - Level 3 (In-depth Explanation):
Challenge the student to explain how analog-to-digital conversion
works in detail, perhaps focusing on one medium. For example, they could
write or present “How does a microphone and a sound card work together to
capture sound?” They should include concepts like sampling rate (how many
samples per second) and resolution (bits per sample) in a way their peers
could understand. They might draw a simple diagram showing sound waves
being sampled into numbers. This task pushes them to apply knowledge and
communicate it clearly.

Assessment & Review (Slide 13)

 Individual Quiz: Each student completes a short quiz or worksheet
independently to assess key points. Example questions:
 How many bytes are in 1 gigabyte? (Expected: about 1 billion bytes.)
 Why do we need to convert analog data to digital for a computer?
(Expected: Because computers can only process binary/digital data.)
 What is the function of the CPU in a computer? (Expected: It processes
instructions and controls the computer – the “brain.”)
 Convert 2,048 KB to MB. (Expected: ~2 MB, since 1024 KB = 1 MB.)
 Peer Review: Students then swap their answers with a partner. Each
pair checks each other’s responses against an answer key or notes.
They discuss any differences or mistakes and help correct them. This
way, they learn from each other and clarify misunderstandings (peer
teaching can reinforce their knowledge).
 Group Reflection (Plenary): In small groups, students create a quick
poster or slide highlighting one concept from the lesson (e.g.,
illustrating analog vs digital with an example, or listing the data units
in order with pictures, or diagramming CPU–RAM–Storage
relationships). Each group briefly shares their poster with the class,
explaining their concept. This serves as a plenary activity to
summarize learning, with each group reinforcing a different aspect of
the lesson.
Exit Ticket Questions (Slide 14)
Before leaving, students should answer these to check understanding: 1. A
short video clip (for example, a 2-minute phone video) might be
around _ _ MB in size.
(Fill in the blank with a reasonable number to show you know the order of
magnitude – e.g. “20 MB.”) 2. What is the main job of the CPU in a
computer?
(Answer in one sentence, e.g. “The CPU carries out instructions and
processes data, essentially acting as the brain of the computer.”)
These exit ticket responses will quickly indicate if students can estimate data
sizes and recall the role of the CPU, reinforcing the day’s key takeaways.