Inputs and outputs
Computer Science · Key Stage 1 · The School
In and out
An INPUT is how information gets INTO a computer. A keyboard. A mouse. A microphone. A touchscreen. A camera. An OUTPUT is how it comes back OUT. A screen. A speaker. A printer. Press a key and that is an input. A letter appears on the screen and that is an output.
Computers in disguise
Computers hide everywhere. There is one inside a washing machine. Buttons go in, spinning comes out. There is one in traffic lights. Timers go in, colours come out. There are computers in microwaves, in cars, and in the card reader at the shop. If a thing takes information in and puts an answer out, there is probably a tiny computer inside.
Trace the journey
Say play my song to a smart speaker. The input is your voice, through the microphone. The computer works out what you asked. The output is music, through the speaker. In, then think, then out. That is the shape of everything a computer does.
A tablet screen SHOWS you a picture. That is an output. It also FEELS your finger. That is an input. A headset has speakers, which are output. It has a microphone, which is input. A printer prints, which is output. If it scans, it also reads, which is input. So do not ask whether a thing is an input or an output. Ask it of each JOB. What goes in? What comes out?
Some things are both
A touchscreen is an input AND an output at the same time. It shows you the picture, which is the output. It feels your finger, which is the input. Headphones with a microphone on the wire do both jobs too. So does a printer that can scan. So the useful question is never whether a THING is an input or an output. The question is this: what information is going in here, and what is coming out? Ask it that way round. Then the disguised computers get much easier to spot.