Raspberry Pi for Librarians Chapter 6 by Stephen M. Tafoya

I like to believe that I’m fairly tech savvy but this chapter made me panic a bit. Stephen Tafoya explains that Raspberry Pi is the whole computer system. It is flexible, affordable, single-board computer ideal for learning new computer skills. (Page 113) I believe that it would be a great tool to use with 4th and 5th grade; I’m seeing a collaboration with our Tech teacher! But, more about the book in a minute. This chapter made me realize that as much as I’ve learned about technology, I need to keep growing, especially if I want to share with students!

In 1987 my father, a nuclear scientist in the Air Force and later Sandia Corporation, decided it was time I learned to use a computer. He got out a CPU that used 5 X 5 floppies and DOS. I loved it! We played around for a week and I was off! My girlfriend Gwen, an engineer with Honeywell was home for a few years with her children and helped me advance further with a new computer. I loved taking the motherboard out, cleaning it, replacing it, learning the parts of the computer…My friend told me I knew just enough to be dangerous. Ah, but technology kept advancing. While I could understand the older computers, and had no qualms about disassembling them, I’m a bit more nervous with the new ones. They seem so compact, taking them apart could present a real challenge!

I got a little excited reading this chapter about Raspberry Pi. It made me wonder if I could once again feel like I totally understood how the computer works? Well, maybe! This chapter, well written, sources for internet sites and social sites for community exploration sound great! I’m ready to buy my parts and start exploring! However, I really believe that either I or our tech teacher would need to become more knowledgable before diving off into this Pi for the library makerspace area. So, I will circle this chapter as one to explore this summer or when I have more free time.

Again, loving that this book has so many sources listed!

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