Today in computing we looked at how IT is used in the wider world. We focussed on a supermarket and talked about how the supermarket checkout has a till, barcode scanner that is part of IT. 

Toucans were very good at explaining what all the pieces of hardware were. We also pointed out that we have barcodes on books. 

Did you know that barcodes are scanned using a scanner connected to a till. The number contained in the barcode is then used to look up the item. Once the item has been matched, its price will be looked up. This information comes from another computer, to which all of the tills are connected. The price is shown on a screen and added to a list of all of the things that the customer is buying.

To help us understand this we did some role play. Some of us were barcode scanners and item finders, others were price finders.