Day 1
01 Workshop Opener 02 Supporting Diversity 03 Break 04 Previously, on 05 Model Lesson 06 Model Lesson Reflection 07 Lunch 08 Diverser Learners 09 Curriculum Investigation 10 Break 11 Conclusions and Connections 12 Wrap Up 13 Debrief

Session 5: Model Lesson (U5L5)

50 minutes

lesson exploration

Purpose

This model lesson is intended to introduce participants to the binary number system while modeling classroom practices related to learning in context and differentiation.

Objectives

  • Participants are exposed to the essential content knowledge necessary to plan and implement Lesson 5 of Unit 5
  • The facilitator models the incorporation of prior experiences of the participants into the lesson
  • The facilitator models having a plan for early finishers that focuses on going deeper into the content instead of faster or further
  • The facilitator models having strategies for incorporating a variety of student voices into the classroom
  • Participants engage in the “think, pair, share” teaching and learning strategy

Supplies & Prep

Room Setup:

  • Participants seated in pods

Facilitator Supplies:

Teacher Supplies:

Agenda

Warm Up (5 minutes)

Activity (35 minutes)

Wrap Up (10 minutes)

Facilitation Guide

Warm Up (5 minutes)

(5 minutes) Numerical Data

Facilitator Note: The “ideas to get you started” prompts below are taken directly from the curriculum. This is an opportunity to model modifying the lesson plan to be more personally relevant for the people in the room. Think about stores or businesses popular in your area or maybe a local weather issue that involves data collection in the form of numbers that could be substituted here.

Prompt: Create a list of all the information you might want to represent to a computer as a number. Here are some ideas to get you started

  • An online store (what kinds of numbers does a store keep track of?)
  • A social media profile (what things about you or your friends are numbers?)

Discussion Goal

In this and the following lessons learners will be learning a new system to represent numbers using on-off signals. Motivate this activity by thinking back to the kinds of information learners eventually will want to represent with this system. If learners need help brainstorming give them a couple examples, e.g. age, their height, their birthday, the number of friends they have, the cost of items, an item's rating, etc.

Think - Pair - Share: Allow learners a minute to think silently before having them share with their tables and then the group as a whole.

  • (1 minute) Think: individual reflection
  • (1 minutes) Pair: discuss with a partner
  • (3 minutes) Share: share and discuss with the whole group

Remarks

Numbers are a really useful and important way to represent all kinds of information. If we want to represent numbers to a computer, we're going to have to learn a new system that allows us to do that.

Activity (35 minutes)

(5 minutes) Model

Complete an example problem as a whole group. Ask learners to arrange cards face up and face down so that exactly thirteen dots are showing. (It is important that each group uses only one set of cards.) After some trial and error, learners should see that the 8, 4, and 1 cards should be face up, and the 2 card should be face down. (U U D U)

(10 minutes) Practice

Teaching Tip

The number cards will need to be cut. This can be done by the facilitator before the workshop or by the participants during the workshop. If the plan is for the participants to cut out the cards during the workshop, scissors will need to be available for participant use. You might also consider having participants create the number cards using post-its to eliminate the need for printing and cutting.

Distribute: Give each pair a copy of the Representing Numbers - Activity Guide and a set of Number Cards - Manipulative.

Teaching Tip

As participants are working, circulate the room and spot check for correct answers on the activity guide. Some answers will vary (numbers 1 - 4 on page 1 and numbers 5 and 6 in “Decoding Multiple Numbers” on page 2). Use the following guide to check for accuracy:

Allow learners to complete the rest of the first page in pairs. Ask them to raise their hand when they complete the first page to receive further instructions.

Facilitator Note: Part of what you are modeling here is how to differentiate to meet the unique learning needs within the room. Part of the is having a plan for early finishers. The goal is to have these learners go deeper, not faster or further. Avoid having learners move on to the second page of the activity guide. Instead, you might extend the learning for these participants by challenging them to create a binary representation for a larger number requiring more than 4 bits (pick a number between 16 and 31).

(5 minutes) Discuss

Facilitator Note: In this discussion, you are modeling incorporating multiple voices into the room. Before calling on people that have not volunteered, give learners the opportunity to discuss with a partner or table. When you call on someone, ask them to share what they discussed as a group. In general, it is less threatening to share a group answer than an individual answer.

When all learners have finished the page, ask them to come back together as a class and share their answers.

Discussion Goal

After some discussion, learners should note that there is only one way to represent any particular number in this system. This is an important point to bring out because it would be confusing if two patterns meant the same thing.

Prompt: Was there more than one possible answer for any of the problems?

  • (2 minutes) Table talk: Learners compare answers at their tables and decide on an answer to this prompt as a table.
  • (2 minutes) Whole group share out: The facilitator selects a participant to share their group answer with the whole group. The facilitator then asks if any groups in the room disagree with the response that was shared. The discussion should continue until all learners agree and understand why there can only be one way to represent any particular number in this system.

Prompt: What is the smallest number you can make? The largest number you can make?

  • (1 minute) Whole group share out: The facilitator selects a participant to share their group answer with the whole group. The facilitator then asks if any groups in the room disagree with the response that was shared. The discussion should continue until all learners agree and understand that the smallest number possible is zero (not 1).

Remarks

With these cards, we've created a binary system to represent numbers. Because we used a pattern that we can follow as our numbers get bigger, our system can work for as high as we can count. Of course, our cards will eventually run out of space to put the dots, so we're going to look at a tool that will help us to use binary numbers in the hundreds.

Teaching Tip

Starting in level 4, learners will be asked to decode a binary message containing multiple numbers. This can be tricky because the message is read left to right and the binary number strip goes from right to left. It is possible for learners to get the correct answers on level 4 without understanding this concept. However, they will likely get stuck on level 5 if this misconception exists. Try to guide participants into figuring out their mistake without explicitly pointing it out.

Example: “What if I told you the answer to number 3 is 30? How do you think I could have arrived at that answer? What does that mean for figuring out the answer to number 4? What does that tell us about how we read a binary message containing multiple numbers?"

(10 minutes) Practice

Allow learners to complete the second half of the Representing Numbers - Activity Guide in pairs using the levels 3 - 7 on Code Studio. (The directions within Code Studio correspond to the questions in the activity guide.)

Facilitator Note: If participants finish early, have them watch the video in Bubble 8. It is not necessary for all participants to watch the video at this time. The group will watch the video together in a later session.

(5 minutes) Discuss

Discussion Goal

If you don’t know the bit length of each number, then you can’t tell where each number starts and stops, so it could be different numbers depending on where you start and stop reading each number.

Prompt: Why is it important to have a set bit length for your numbers when you send information in binary?

  • (2 minutes) Table Talk: discuss as a table
  • (3 minutes) Share: The facilitator selects a participant to share their group answer with the whole group. The facilitator then asks if any groups in the room disagree with the response that was shared.

Wrap Up (10 minutes)

(10 minutes) Discuss

Remarks

So far in Unit 5, we've looked at how we could represent text, images, and numbers in binary.

Discussion Goal

This wrap up gives learners a chance to reflect on binary representation systems in general, as well as the specifics of binary number representation. Ensure that learners understand that all binary number systems use two elements, that they must be unambiguous, and that everyone who uses the system must have a common understanding of the rules.

For the second question, there are many possible acceptable answers. However, ensure that the idea that the patterns used for binary numbers are not arbitrary comes up in the discussion.

The last question is more open ended to give teachers insight into what might be top of mind challenges for learners in understanding binary representation.

Prompt: What are three ways that the binary representation systems are all the same?

  • (1 minute) Journal
  • (2 minutes) Whole Group Share Out (popcorn style)

Prompt: What are two things that are special about the way we represent numbers in binary?

  • (1 minute) Journal
  • (2 minutes) Whole Group Share Out (popcorn style)

Prompt: What is one challenge in representing information on a computer?

  • (1 minute) Journal
  • (2 minutes) Whole Group Share Out (popcorn style)