101. computers of the past: valves and rooms (ks3)
Discover the massive, room-sized computers of the past powered by vacuum tubes, and explore how early computing changed the world forever.
Imagine a computer so large it takes up an entire room and uses more electricity than a whole street! Before we had smartphones in our pockets, early computers were massive, noisy machines powered by glowing glass tubes called valves. In this lesson, we are going to travel back in time to explore these mechanical giants and discover how they laid the foundation for the digital world.
Last modified: March 26th, 2026
