Computers Merit Badge Worksheet

Brazos Valley MBC Jan 10 and 24, 2004

Scout's Name                                                        Troop                                           District

____________________________    ____________________        _______________________

Requirement 1:

1.      The first true calculating machine was the _______________________.

2.      Charles Babbage designed plans for a computing machine called _____________________.

3.      The computer punched card was developed by ________________________ for use in the _________________________________.

4.      One of the first programmable computers, built during World War II, was _________________.

5.      The central processors of the first programmable computers were huge and expensive and were made using ________________________________.

6.      The first known instance of de-bugging a computer was recorded in ____________ when ________________________ found a ________ in an electrical relay in the ____________________ computer system.

7.      In 1947, Bardeen, Brattain, and Shockley of Bell Labs invented the _____________________ device, later known as the ____________________.

8.      In 1958, Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments invented the _______________________________.

9.      In 1971, engineers at Intel invented the first _______________________________________.

10.   One of the first commercially available personal computers was the ____________________.

11.    Two examples of special-purpose computers are ___________________________ and ____________________________.

12.    The four standard "sizes" of computers are  __________________________, ______________________, ______________________, and __________________________, with wearable computers already in development as the next logical step.

13.    Four different uses for a computer are  ______________________________, _________________________________, _____________________________, and __________________________.

14.    The "brain" of a computer is the _____________________________, abbreviated as ______.

15.    The "brain" of a personal computer is plugged into the _______________________________.

16.    The two types of memory in a computer are ___________________ and ________________.

17.    Four types of input devices for a computer are  ______________________________, ______________________, ______________________, and __________________________.

18.    Magnetic storage is either  ________________ access or ________________ access, depending on how it is written and read.

19.    An example of optical storage is a _____________________________.

20.    Four types of output devices for a computer are  __________________________, ______________________, ______________________, and __________________________.

 

Requirement 2:

1.      The three major categories of programs are ______________________________, ____________________________, and ________________________________.

2.      The set of programs that controls all the computer's operations is the ____________________.

3.      Programs that perform a specific job are called _______________________________.   And an example of one used to store data is a _____________________________________________.

4.      A program used to develop other programs is called a _______________________________.

5.      Programs are written for a specific computer microprocessor in ________________________.

6.      Later, programs easier for people to read were written in ______________________________, which is also know of as _________________________________.

7.      A program can be converted to machine code by a __________________ which re-writes it as object code, or by an ________________________ which converts each instruction as it is sent to the CPU.

8.      Three examples of programming languages:

         Language                         Used for

         ____________________   ___________________________________________

         ____________________   ___________________________________________

         ____________________   ___________________________________________

 

 

 

Requirement 3:

1.      Tell how the following are stored in a computer.  Use the back of the page if you need more space.

         Text              _________________________________________________________________

         Numbers       _________________________________________________________________

         Pictures         _________________________________________________________________

         Sound           _________________________________________________________________

 

Requirement 6:

Describe what each of these terms mean with computers.  Give brief examples.

Input/output devices      _____________________________________________________________

Storage Media              _____________________________________________________________

Memory                       _____________________________________________________________

Processors                   _____________________________________________________________

Co-processors             _____________________________________________________________

Modems                       _____________________________________________________________

Networks                     _____________________________________________________________

Electronic Mail             _____________________________________________________________

Robotics                       _____________________________________________________________

 

Requirement 7:

Describe three jobs in the computer field:

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

 

Requirement 8:

Is it permissible to accept a free copy of a purchased computer game from a friend?  Why, or why not.

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

 

Requirement 9:

Describe at least five ways that your family could use a computer other than for games:

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________