Continuing the discussion from U2 Challenge Decisions:
I will prepare a Binary Lesson Plan for Day 10-12.
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I plan to work on Unit 2 Day 10-12 Binary NumbersChallenge-1PageLessonOverviewTemplateUnit2D10-12.docx (26.8 KB)
binaryCardsAnalysis.pdf (223.8 KB)
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Here’s what I did for Unit 2 Days 10-12 Binary numbers:
*Students made a Flippy-Do & received 5 binary cards to use during this lesson
*Videos: Binary Numbers–Math Bites & Stranger Things
*Count the Dots Activity
*Video: English Computer Science: Binary Part 1
*Conversion worksheets
*Binary games (individual online)
*Binary class competition (divide class into groups of 5)
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Here is what I do for this lesson:
I use the CSUnplugged Lesson -
Have students volunteer to stand in the front or the class holding cards with first 5 binary numbers on it. Review the cards, and start looking into what do we notice, can we make numbers?
Go over binary - on board lesson, showing base 10, base 2 similarities in number systems
Worksheets - have worksheets for students to practice what binary. Students can work together but I remind them that they need to know how to do it on their own.
Relay - divide into groups of 5 and have relays as to which group can show the binary answer - I give candy as a reward.
I do give them a worksheet at home to make sure that they know how to do it alone.
I plan to work on the Binary Lesson for Day 10-12.
I had them hold the boards that had the dots on it and they had to count it. This helped the visual learners to understand what it meant by 10010.
Students asked if they can use binary number for letters instead of numbers? It brought up a good idea on how they can use the number to represent the alphabets. The students created their own codes and then they had to give it to other students and decode it.
I completed the Day 10-12 Binary Lesson. Attached is my artifact. All I did was change the dots to symbols of NBA Teams because a ton of my students love sports, so I put the teams on instead of just a black dot.
My extended learning activity with the students includes choosing which NBA team they are on, and then having an “NBA Playoff” where teams will go head to head in a best of 5, then best of 7, then best of 7 series to see who the winner is. Each “game” in the series will be a number that the students have to quickly show in binary by holding the cards up. Whoever gets the correct number up first will win the game. The first to get 3 wins, wins the first series, then it moves on to the best of 7. The champions will get a reward. I have an Adobe InDesign file that is set up and can quickly be edited with logos of whichever teams the students would like. This could also be done using other images, not just NBA teams.
I also think a good extension activity would be to have the students create secret codes for each other that they then have to solve.
I think one of the hardest parts is making sure that students are all actually getting the ideas, not just looking at the other numbers that are being help up during that activity and copying them.
ECS Binary Teams.pdf (157.4 KB)
Great way to get the kids involved and use local team spirit.
I will be doing Binary Numbers, Unit 2, Day 10-12
I will introduce binary numbers with a short you-tube video (many available)
Students will then be given a practice activity using binary (from the curriculum or another worksheet that is similar
Students will work in groups to solve binary problems
In groups, students will get binary flash cards and will be challenged to be the fastest team to flip their cards to show a number read aloud by the teacher (10-15 problems)
Students will be challenged to write their own binary code using other symbols and share out with the class
The healthy competition sounds fun. In one of the workshops I attended the teacher used superhero shields/symbols as the “dots” for the binary cards. It made it more fun for the groups and people really had fun. You could even have the groups be separated based on superhero shield/symbol for the competition.
–Prior to using the provided lesson with the binary dots, I created my own larger version of dots and printed them on a color printer and had them laminated. I felt like this was more conducive to using in the classroom so everyone could see and understand better.
–Students enjoyed participating in class and having a part in the instruction.
–I did a follow-up by showing the video on Binary by BrainPop to the class and then had students individually complete the accompanying worksheets provided by BrainPop for their lesson.
–I had students go to binarytranslator.com and type in their name and share what it is in binary. Students were amazed at how long words were in binary code. They really enjoyed this activity and wanted to continue “decoding” additional words.
–Overall, I found this to be a great lesson and students really took away a strong understanding of the concept of binary numbers and enjoyed the different formats the material was presented to them, including hands-on activities.
@katrina_dunlap thanks for sharing the BrainPop Binary activity and video. Do you have a classroom or school subscription? Is so are there other resources on BrainPop you find useful?
Our school does have a subscription to BrainPop. We use it on such a regular basis, I forgot that it is not a free resource! The binary unit is my favorite because I really like how simple they make it and, of course, it’s nice to have the accompanying activities that come along with it! I do, however, also use several of the other topics, There is a great collection of lessons under “Digital Citizenship”. I just took a look at the site and noticed that under Digital Citizenship there are actually 2 lessons that are marked as free–Digital Etiquette and Blog! Check them out!
Love the BrainPop video. Usually use one of those to introduce a new concept (mainly back in my Science Days).
Back when I taught math, I used to teach Binary (part of the 8th grade math curriculum). One thing I find useful is to relate it to Base 2 and show the students how it is similar to base 10.
For example, we use base 10 digits (0-9)
The ones place can be written as 10 ^0
The tens place as 10^1
The hundreds as 10^2
and so on.
In Binary or any other base, you can write them as
2^0
2^1
2^2
and so on.
Shelly - What a great idea to have students write their own binary code using other symbols to make connections to other systems. How did your students like doing the activity and what kinds of symbols did they come up with?
I also used the CSUnplugged lesson
-I will pass out a set of 5 cards-5 students will stand in an order to demonstrate the cards.
-Discussion-what do you notice about the number of cards? We discuss about binary’s and have students to make a 01001 (in groups!)
-We will then complete the worksheet:sending secret messages in groups of 4 as a contest!
Ahha moments: The students loving the secret messages
Difficult moments: Me trying to explain binary.
Enjoyed: the worksheet
Resource: CSUnplugged has a lot of worksheets!
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Thanks for sharing your fun ideas. I definitely agree that students love making secret messages. After the binary lesson, I started doing bell ringer activities with random binary words that the students had to guess and they had a lot of fun with it. Often times students wanted to create the bell ringer for the next day. I had to approve the words, but it brought in more engagement.