Bits and Bytes - Counting in Binary

Walk through the slides drawing reference to how the decimal number system works and how this new number system also uses the idea of placeholders. Decimal has a base unit of 10 while binary has a base unit of 2. Ask for volunteers when prompted in the slides.

Students will be guided by the teacher as they explain how bits show the computer whether or not there is data in that position. Each bit is either on(1) or off (0). On means, there is data in that position.

Starting with the first four bits. 8, 4, 2, 1, give volunteers a card with one of the numbers on it.

Volunteers will flip cards at the instruction of the teacher to demonstrate how bits represent data based on their position in a base two number system.

Example: Teacher will say show me the number 6. The students should have their cards where 1 = on and 0 = off.  So the number 6 in binary would look like this: 0110 because the 8 position (the first bit) is off and the 1 position (the last bit) is off. While the 2nd (4) and 3rd (2) bits are on. 4 + 2 = 6.

Walk through the slides to add on more bits until you get a full byte (8 bits)

More volunteers will come up to complete the full byte 128, 64, 32, 16, 8, 4, 2, 1. Students will then count from one to whatever number you feel is necessary for students to understand how the bits work. We want students to be able to see the pattern involved as the number being counted gets bigger.

You can have them practice representing random numbers from 0 to 255. You can have conversations about the largest number that can be can be represented before requiring a new bit.

Example: The maximum number of 5 bits can represent is 31. In order to get 32, you need to add the 6th bit (32) and the other bits should turn off (0). 32 should look like 100000.