Floppy Drives 
        
WEBQuest
 

Brief  Description:

You have been fixing your fellow students computers, and you even helped your English teacher with a computer problem. Because of your wonderful skills at the computer, your English teacher has asked you to do a presentation about floppy disks.  You agree, even though you do not know enough to do a presentation.

Objectives:

You will be doing research on how a floppy drive works so that you can DAZZLE your English teacher and your "party dudes". 

Resources: 

How floppy disks work:  http://computer.howstuffworks.com/floppy-disk-drive1.htm

What's inside a disk:   http://www.exploratorium.edu/science_explorer/dissect_disk.html  

The resources found in the room and on the internet

Tasks :

     TASK 1:  Answer the following questions,  put the question and the answer on a separate document.  Title the document Floppy disks and be sure to put your name at the top.

  1. Who invented the floppy disk (FDD)?
  2. What year was it invented?
  3. What was the size of the floppy disk?
  4. What size floppy disk came out in 1981?
  5. How much data did it hold?
  6. What is a bit and what is a byte?
  7.  In the mid 1980's, what happened that allowed 3.5 inch disks to be invented?
  8. The thin plastic base is coated with __________?
  9. Audio cassettes work in a similar way;  what are the disadvantages of audio cassette tapes?
  10. Floppy disks are arranged with __________ rings?
  11. Describe Direct access storage!
  12. Describe a sector!
  13. What are the major parts of a FDD?
  14. When the computer passes an instruction to the computer hardware to write a data file on a floppy disk, what "starts "first" before the data is written?
  15. What is the 1st  motor called?
  16. What does 2nd motor do?
  17. What is access time?
  18. What does the erase coil do? When is it used?
  19. How is a "mag strip" on the back of a credit card similar?
  20. What are some important tips about using a floppy disk? (what about the green light)

     TASK 2:   Create a power point about floppy disks.  Print it 3 slide to a page. The following are just some THEMES that you can use:

Assessment:

You will be graded on the answers to you questions and the quality of your presentation.