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  • Our STEM projects are designed so that participants get it wrong before they get it right. You will observe your students struggling as they attempt to create their own STEM projects. This process is an empowering experience, building perseverance, frustration tolerance and growing overall confidence! With your support, students will step out of their comfort zones to think, build and problem-solve for themselves.
  • Productive Struggle Opportunities:
    - Beading
    - Tying knots

In this Rosie Labs guide you will find:

  • Productive struggle opportunities for students during their project build,
  • Lesson objectives and concept overview,
  • Optional STEM topic video to share with participants,
  • Step-by-step instructions and video of the Rosie Riveters’ Binary Code Wearables project,
  • Optional STEM activities to further explore the objectives and concepts used in the project build.

Objective

Students will be introduced to coding by learning about binary code and the basis for the different computer languages.

Concept Overview and Experiment Inspiration

Have you ever seen the inside of a computer? If you have you may have noticed that it is full of a TON of wires. Wires are the way electricity moves from one place to another and we use electricity to power almost anything that we can turn “on” or “off”. In the simplest terms, this is how a computer understands information: through electrical signals of “on” and “off”. When a machine only understands information represented by two options it is called binary, or in the case of computer language, binary code.

Binary code describes a numbering scheme in which there are only two possible values for each digit: 0 and 1. The term also refers to any digital encoding/decoding system in which there are exactly two possible states. Computers are made up of switches – they are either “on or off” (yes or no, black or white) – and only understand two digits 1 or 0 (yes or no, on or off, black or white). Understanding binary code is central to understanding computing.

If computers only understand two “bits” of information – “on” or “off”- how can we read a book that has all 26 letters of the alphabet on a computer?  In computer programming, all of the information is assigned or given a set of “on” or “off” instructions so the computer can understand what we want it to do. Every piece of information is written with the two “bits” of information.

The attached Binary Decoder Key contains all of the letters of the alphabet and next to those letters are black and white boxes. Each square (black or white) represents what is called a “binary digit” or “bit”.  8 “bits” make up what is called a “byte” of data. A gigabyte is made up of over a million bytes of data or over 8 million bits of information (a letter, number, color, etc.) that help make up the images and information you see and store on your computer, iphone, tablet, etc.

Students will have an opportunity to explore binary code in this project!

Science Goals

  • Binary code describes a numbering scheme in which there are only two possible values for each digit: 0 and 1
  • Understanding the basics of binary code help students with beginning coding

Vocabulary

  • Binary – something consisting of two parts
  • Binary code– the basis of computer language, it is a system in which information is represented only using two digits; 1 and 0.
  • Binary digit – also called a “bit”, is one of the two digits or numbers (1 or 0) of a computer coding binary system.

Required Materials

  • binary decoder key
  • plastic string or lanyard
  • colored beads (two different colors, about 35)
  • blank 8-bit worksheets
  • key ring or necklace clasp
  • marker

Step-By-Step Instructions

Step 1

Write your name vertically along the left-hand side of the 8-bit worksheet. Align each letter with a numbered line.

Step 2

Use the binary decoder key to identify the binary sequence for each letter in your name and record the code.

Step 3

Color in the corresponding code for each letter. Identify which color bead will represent your off (black) commands and which color will represent your on (clear) commands.  Place the corresponding beads onto your coded 8-bit sheets.

Step 4

Tie your string on one end of the necklace clasp (the knot should sit inside the barrel of the clasp) or your key ring. String the beads from left to right for each letter onto your string.  Tie off the string at your desired length or tie a knot into the barrel of the other end of the necklace clasp.

Optional STEM Activities

Resource 1

American Sign Language

Show students this American Sign Language (ASL) Diagram. Ask participants to identify 2 or 3 letters you can sign using the
ASL diagram. Discuss why we might use sign language.

If someone had limited hearing ability, we use a universal code (sign-language) to speak to them without using our voice. This code was developed to match hand symbols to the ABC’s so if a person cannot hear the letter A they can still understand what is being communicated.

Just as American Sign Language adapts audible language to visual hand symbols for those that are hearing impaired, binary code adapts human languages to electrical on off patterns for computers and other electronic devices.

Resource 2

What’s Inside a Computer?

Show your students a picture of the inside of a computer. You can use this image of a Computer Cabinet. What do they notice? Likely they notice all of the wires! Connected wires are the way electricity moves from one place to another and we use electricity to power almost anything that we can turn “on” or “off. Have students find something in the room that you turn on and off that uses electricity.

A great and accessible example is a light switch or lamp! A lamp is powered by electricity through the wire which is plugged
into the socket and it can only be “on” or “off”. This concept is similar to how a computer understands information: through electrical signals of “on” and “off”. When something only understands information represented by two options it is called binary.

Resource 3

The Decimal System and Binary Code

Explore binary code and computer language further by discussing the decimal system with your students.

The decimal system is based around the decimal point and units of ten. Every digit in a decimal number has a “position”, and the decimal point helps us to know which position is which. The position just to the left of the point is the “Units” position. Every position further to the left is 10 times bigger, and every position further to the right is 10 times smaller. 

Binary numbers look strange when they are written out directly but they actually use a similar pattern to the decimal system. The difference is that in binary code each digits’ weight increases by powers of 2, rather than by powers of 10 in the decimal system. In binary, the digit furthest to the right is the “ones” digit; the next digit to the left is the “twos” digit; next comes the “fours” digit, then the “eights” digit, then the “16s” digit, then the “32s” digit, and so on. 

This is how you would chart the binary number 10101:

64 32 16 8 4 2 1
BINARY = 10101 0 0 1 0 1 0 1

 

The decimal equivalent of a binary number can be found by summing the value assigned to all the digits. For example, the binary 10101 is equivalent to the decimal 16 + 4 +1 = 21. You can explore this more by trying out the number 1,725 in base ten and then base two with this Base Ten Example.