Margaretta students go geek

MARGARETTA TWP.

Kids today grow up with the Internet -- playing games, chatting, even building characters in online worlds.

With the help of some local "geeks," Margaretta sixth-graders got a look at the hardware behind their favorite computer pastimes.

Best Buy "Geek Squad" employees visited four computer classes at Margaretta Elementary to talk about computer safety, input and output devices and the innards of computers.

"He taught me some things, too," teacher Amy Snyder said after Best Buy employee Mike Golden's presentation on Wednesday.

Snyder -- whose degree is in technology integration, not computer science -- became Margaretta Elementary's first certified technology teacher this year.

In the past, an aide helped with technology and worked with students on limited tasks such as typing skills. Snyder is tasked with developing an expanded curriculum to help students meet Ohio's technology standards.

She contacted Best Buy to see about having some computer professionals come in to talk about the parts of a computer.

Golden used metaphors to put his explanations in relatable terms. For example, if a computer's innards were an office, the processor would be a worker, the hard drive would be a filing cabinet full of information, and RAM would be the desk where work gets done.

Golden passed around parts and pointed out how everything fits together, but he cautioned the students not to dig around carelessly inside a computer.

"When we say don't mess with something electrical, we really mean that," he said.

He also assured the students being a geek isn't a bad thing at all.

"You can actually be a geek, too," Golden said. "A geek is anyone who is very proficient or very good at a particular subject."

Sixth-grader Jake Guerrerl said he mostly just plays games on the computer, so the material in the presentation was new for him.

"I've never really seen the inside of a computer, so it was interesting," he said. "I learned about the motherboard and how it's a highway."

Snyder teaches all grades at the K-6 building. Everyone has been versed on the district's acceptable use technology, and the youngest children started very basic, learning how to log on to a computer.

The older students are working with presentation software such as PowerPoint and Movie Maker and taking typing lessons.

"Our next unit coming up will be on Internet safety," Snyder said. "We'll talk to the older kids about cyberbullying and netiquette."

Snyder also hopes to get the sixth-graders onto ePals, a social networking site for K-12 schools and classes.

The younger students are also learning about acceptable behavior online. A lot of them are on Club Penguin, a popular online world where players use penguins as avatars, and Snyder said they need to understand "there is another person on the other side of that penguin."