Why Isn’t Science Class Like This?

Well there is cost for one thing. And prep time for another. Oh wait, you don’t know what I’m talking about. Let me back up. Apparently at some sort of event the NVidia people wanted to show the difference between how a CPU works and a GPU (graphic processor) works. They also had an interest in entertaining people so obviously they hired the people from the TV show Mythbusters to create the demo. You can see the demo here. Now if you know the show at all you probably know that they are big fans of robots and of shooting things – all sorts of things with all sorts of shooting apparatus. Yep, there is some of that here.

GO watch – it’s very cool. I’ll be here when you get back.

These may be two of the loudest graphical output devices ever. I’m not sure if it is the best demo in the world about what a GPU is but it sure is a lesson in the difference between parallel and sequential processing. And I’ll bet you can get students to watch it and discuss what it all means very easily. Getting a conversation going about topics is often half the battle too.

[Hat tip to Paolo Barone whose blog post led me to this video.]

Comments

• Anonymous
  September 18, 2008
  Absolutly wicked, why can't all lessons be like this, lead by the mythbusters :)

• Anonymous
  September 20, 2008
  Thanks, Alfred!  This is great.