English National Curriculum:
Key Stage 1
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TO USE TECHNOLOGY PURPOSEFULLY TO CREATE, ORGANISE, STORE, MANIPULATE AND RETRIEVE DIGITAL CONTENT.
TO RECOGNISE COMMON USES OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY BEYOND SCHOOL.
learning objectives
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to understand that a computer memorises information using memory boxes.
success criteria
- I can say that a computer remembers things using Memory Boxes.
- I understand that a Memory Box needs to have a name and a value.
- I understand that when a new value enters a Memory Box, it will antomatically replace the old value.
top tips
- Memory Boxes are used to memorise information (label and store data) in a computer program.
- Memory Boxes store values and they are identified by a name.
- Each Memory Box cannot have more than a single value at any time.
- In computer science, Memory Boxes are called variables. This is because the value inside varies.
Common misconceptions
- Memory Box have fixed values.
- A Memory Box's value can change. A new value replaces the old value.
- A Memory Box can have more than one value at a time.
- A single Memory Box can only have one.
Variables
Names
Values
Variables are used to store information, like numbers or letters. We can think of these like Memory Boxes for computers.
A name can be used to label a variable and corresponds with the value inside, so that it will be easier to retrieve the variable again.
A value is the information or data inside a variable.
TOPIC BACKGROUND READING
When people talk about a computer’s memory they mean RAM. RAM stands for ‘Random Access Memory’, which is just another way of saying that you can grab data from any of the boxes that make up the memory.
In most programming languages, a variable is a container that holds information that you can access.
In this book, we refer to Variables as Memory Boxes, these help the computer to remember things. You can think of a variable as a box that contains something. You can open the box to find out what is inside, or even put something else into the box.
A variable is a storage location for data. Variables have names. Some computer languages mandate you assign a data type to variables. When asked for the ‘official definition’ (or best definition) please use the definition stated above.
