Trouble with Unit 5 Lesson 5

CS Discoveries
1

This is all new to me so I am trying to teach lesson 5 and having issues. On the screen there are on 8 boxes available telling me it is 8 bits. However the part on the right of the screen is asking the students to figure out what two world records is but it has 10 boxes. I am so confused and have been looking every where. I know the answers from the key but it is still not making sense. See screen shot below. Any help is greatly appreciated.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YkUgOrqyFdOevCggLlkFiC_EU5YMTsSoCKRu6yIq5Xo/edit?usp=sharing

2

Hi @cwaliser,

I can see how this one is confusing. The hint says that “You’ll need to read the numbers in order, with the first answer using the first five bits, and the second answer using the five bits after that.” So, the first 5 bits correspond to the answer to the first question:

image
image786Ă—177 1.55 KB

and the next (and last) 5 bits correspond to the second question:

image
image880Ă—239 1.47 KB

Plug those particular values into the widget and you get the correct answer :smiley:

Hope that helps (and if not please comment here),
–Michael K.

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3

@cwaliser,

I am in a training for this unit today. In this unit, students have to re-program their minds to read right to left. BUT, we also discovered that the exemplars/answer keys are not always right. There are probably 50 adults in this workshop and we are all mind-blown after Lesson 5! The facilitator has actually taught this lesson and she said she shows the video from step 8 at the BEGINNING of the lesson and again at the end.

I’m sure this is late but maybe it will help others :slight_smile:

5 Likes
4

Thanks, I appreciate it. I am teaching it again this semester, hoping it goes better this time. I appreciate any help.

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5

Did you get it? We are still having trouble. I guess the point is it’s hard to figure out when don’t have all the info.

6

@stephanie.pendley, Did you see @mkmietowicz’s response with the explanation above? The first 5 digits are (on)(on)(on)(on)(off). So, the answer is 16 + 8 + 4 + 2 + 0. The 2nd answer (last 5 boxes) are (on)(on)(on)(on)(on) = 16 + 8 + 4 + 2 + 1. I think the confusing thing is that the two numbers are displayed as one chain of 10 boxes (or bits). This does illustrate how a computer receives a long chain of bits and since it knows there are 8 bits in a byte, it does its calculations 8 bits at a time. Hopefully this isn’t more confusing, but we are happy to try and explain it a different way if it is still confusing.

Best wishes,

Mike

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7

Stephanie, when I take all the statements together it makes sense. Reading from left to right. Counting five bits, then using the end of the five bit one in the new five bit, was useful. However, I feel like I need to take training to better teach my students what it means.