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I kike the concept of this wrap up lesson a lot. After students have examined the use of different number systems and have done experiments in their implementation, they get to see how others have done the same thing and compare their success or problems encountered with their own choices. Great stuff again !
Here is another article related to the lesson that I remembered reading. Has a lot of context that the wikipedia articles lack. I felt like it was more relatable for the kids.
I will teach these lessons as intended, but I will incorporate my own real world Y2K programming/design experience.
love this lesson. going to ask them to make table of different numbers.
I too love this lesson but I am a little worried about my having time to read all and make certain all the links are working. I will also check out the link suggested above. I think Rupali’s idea of a table of different number systems is good. I just finished a course on the history of math ad I was surprised over how many different number systems have been used.
This lesson suggests limiting to one class period. I teach on a block schedule, which means I meet my CSP classes on Monday for 30 minutes and Tuesday and Thursday (or Wednesday and Friday) for 90 minutes each. I imagine these lessons are all designed for 50 minutes. There are a couple of problems I need to overcome. First, I only see them for 210 as opposed to 250 minutes a week. Also, the 30 minute Monday is never very productive. And then, the non-consecutive days make me do more review. However, I will make it work!
I was happy to see the links to the reading on the web in this lesson. I think connecting all of this new information to the real world reminds students of how important it is.
In looking at the information on the different links, some topics are related to numbering systems in general and others are more computer related. I think I might have students look at the general numbering systems articles as a wrap up to lesson 6 and the computer related articles after lesson 7. Depending on a 90 minute time frame, I might have students share their research at the end of lesson 8. It is hard to know how to time all these activities and not have a programming project to fill in any time discrepancies.
I’m tempted to do a lesson where students work in pairs to create their own Binary Fairy Tale based on the flowers in Computations Fairy Tales. Then modify my code for their story. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9m-1wdutfUyX0F0bE95WDl4ZEU
They may miss getting to be creative with code and this might be a nice time to bring in some of the type of work we did last year. Perhaps we will also write about the creative collaboration.
Thanks Eric, this is a great article. Some of the students in my class are gamers and well known trait of Gandhi in Civilization will be fun to talk about.
I’m excited to give these lessons a try and see how they play out.
I think the jigsaw portion of the lesson encourages all students to learn the information in order to share out. I may modify the rubric using a point scale and increase the number of points for participation to ensure that all students actively participate and can bring meaningful information to their new groups.
In the past I’ve had issues with getting kids to care much about jigsaw, even when it’s part of the grade. That being said, I suspect the preceding lessons building the kind of class where students are often sharing with a group, etc will probably help.
I did not check out all the links, but the 2038 problem might be a problem for my 9th graders. Got to look for more scaffolding to be of better support.
I will teach this lesson as intended. And I am curious about the 2038 problem.
I think this looks like another interesting exercise in the sense that it provides students with a way to see number systems put into practice and the fact that these systems pre-date the advent of the information age. Although I did not become interested in history until college, I like that this curriculum gets at the history of numbers to provide a context for the modern day application. I plan on having students work independently on their research projects and then pair up to present a compare/contrast style presentation to the rest of the class.
I spent the entire block on this lesson. Students were assigned a link, which all listed links worked two days ago, and they were to research and answer the prompts in a single google doc. I have 29 students so having every student on a google doc was engaging and we could see what others were writing. We discussed document sharing etiquette, privacy, and why its important to remain professional while working online. Once they saw the power of revision, they questioned their initial inappropriate responses. Once that was over, I asked students to summarize, paraphrase, and cite sources. We still need to work on those skills, I locked the Google document 45 minutes before class was over and students were given a google form where they had to answer two reflective prompts comparing and contrasting numbers systems presented on the google doc and identifying the number system that they found the most interest. In the third prompt, students had to create a third level open ended Costa question for other students to reply and give at least one possible response. Students were still working after the bell. They were motivated to finish.
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I think this is a good lesson to expose kids to something other than what they already know. I think this will also make the students realize that there’s more to numbers than just what they know and more than one way to use them. I also like how the lessons grow in complexity.
The lessons scaffold up nicely from the basics of digit/binary/representation in computers. I am interested in the Cisco Binary guide, the activity guide: Encoding Numbers in the Real World. Will use groups. Will query students on how this tied to their experience s with technology and computing.