In this post, I suggest a fun activity to help the class relax and interact with the material being covered.
The idea is to simulate a binary counter. A binary counter is a machine (like a computer) that counts in binary (0 and 1). A group of people can become a binary counter, which is a good way to see how the number system works.
Call up 5 volunteers and ask them to stand in a line, with everyone’s right arm held horizontally and each hand touching the shoulder of the person beside them. The last person is the units digit and has to do most of the work. They are at the left end of the line (though it looks like the right, since we are facing them). The person at the other end hardly does anything, just offering a shoulder! There are only two rules.
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The person on the right raises or lowers their arm to create each number. They must wait until the others have made their move before starting the next number.
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No one does anything unless the person before them touches their shoulder. When their shoulder is touched, they must change state: if their arm is down, raise it. If their arm is raised, lower it carefully and touch the shoulder of the person next to them.
To make it easier, create cardboard signs with the numbers 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16, representing consecutive powers of base 2. To find the decimal value, simply add the decimal values (shown on the signs) of the people whose arms are raised. You can see the idea for the signs in the image below:
You can get a more intuitive sense of it with the following program I made using Scratch:
To download this project and see my other projects, visit this link.
I was inspired to make this project by the following example.
Now all that’s left is to have fun with the class.