History of Computers Lesson 2: The Shipwreck "Computer" (first calculating machines) - printable lesson, ages 11-14

A 45-minute lesson for ages 11 to 14 on the Antikythera mechanism and the first machines that could do sums, ready to teach. It follows our free video step by step.

See it first: watch the free video, and download Lesson 1 (the abacus) free to see exactly how the lessons work.

Watch a part. Pause. Talk. Try it. Then press play again.

The story: bronze gears found in a Greek shipwreck (the Antikythera mechanism), then the first machines that could do sums: Schickard's Calculating Clock, the Pascaline and Leibniz's Step Reckoner.

What you get (12-page printable PDF):

• A one-page guide for the grown-up, with the exact times to pause the video
• Key words, and a "think first" question
• Four pupil pages, one for each part of the video: what we just heard, two questions to talk about, and something to try
• Two worksheets: a counter "adding machine" that carries tens, a matching task, multiplying the way Leibniz's machine did, and a cut-out timeline
• The story in four pictures, and an 8-question quiz
• All the answers, teaching notes, and the sources for every fact

For ages 11 to 14 (works from 9 with help). About 45 minutes. You need pencils, scissors and about 30 dried beans or counters.

Teaching more than a couple? All 20 lessons are $129 (lessons 2 to 20 cost $152 one by one).

Every drawing and every word is our own. The free video is at kitson-workshop.pages.dev/#history

Pay once, use it for ever: one purchase covers one teacher or one family. Use it as often as you like with your own classes, and print as many copies as your own pupils need. Please do not resell it or pass the file on.

For educational purposes only.