Brilliant Binary

Students learn about binary and decimal conversion within digital systems
Students formatively assess their peers by creating a range of in-world activities
Students give feedback on their peers understanding of binary and decimal conversion
explain how and why whole numbers are represented in binary in digital systems (ACTDIK024) ST

Guiding Ideas

As part of the revision to the technology mandatory syllabus in NSW, students need to demonstrate a knowledge of binary. These lessons cover basic conversion of binary and decimal number systems and allow students to demonstrate their knowledge through a formative assessment task. The time needed to complete these series of lessons will range depending on the abilities of students, and how complex their worlds are. Students are able to produce a range of in-world activities from a simple quiz, to a game. Teachers should aim to allocate 10 hours to these lessons, with 1-2 hours on understanding binary conversion, 5-6 hours for students to build their worlds and 1-2 hours for students to play through and evaluate their peers' creations. At the end of the unit, students should be able to test their knowledge and their peers' knowledge with a world that they have created in Minecraft Education.

• How to humans count? (link into digits on hands) Teacher plays James May’s explanation about binary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcTwu6TFZ08&feature=youtu.be

• How do computers count? (explain in RE to electricity I O )

Teacher then outlines goal of the lesson: to collaboratively create a world that other classes, eg. Maths can use to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of binary.

Students have 4-5 lessons to work in small groups to create and build in-world activities to assess their peers' knowledge of binary conversion. This may look like a simple quiz, or be more complex, like a game.

If students are stuck for ideas, show them the example worlds provided for download, where students at Pittwater High School created 'escape rooms', where players need to escape a locked room by solving a decimal to binary conversion puzzle (lock).

Student Activities

Look at the BBC Bitesize website: https://www.bbc.com/education/guides/zwsbwmn/revision

Draw binary chart on board.

Get students to visually replicate in game. (optional)

Students then create binary conversion questions as groups, to give to other groups in the classroom.

Suggestions: Use guides

Performance Expectations

Students will have collaboratively built a ‘binary learning world’ that can be used with other classes. Students can use provided binary worlds as a guide, or use youtube videos about binary or decimal locks. Students may choose to instead create a quiz or some other form of assessing student knowledge on binary and decimal conversion.

For instance, Pittwater High School students created a series of locked "Escape Rooms". To progress and escape, players were given a binary or a decimal number to convert into decimal or binary in order to unlock a door to the next part of the escape.

Student progress was measured by how many students escaped. At the end of the play through, players gave the builders feedback on what they could improve.

Google Forms or Microsoft Forms can be utilised to create a TAG (Tell ask give) exit form in order to document student assessment for learning. Link to template for Microsoft forms is below.

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ShareFormPage.aspx?id=muagBYpBwUecJZOHJhv5kWrdQtyGADdMvQJEsvgphzdUMUdQOTNaRUZVVEUzUzBBOEFVTUJDMVBSOS4u&sharetoken=K2ShU4sCLFoEM7UylFVo

Further assessment strategies may include: