CS160InClassWeek2
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In-class discussion/activities 1st hour
MGF 093912: BINARY SYSTEMS INTRODUCTION. I didn't quite get through Moore's Law and discussion on the computing singularity, so I will start with that and use that to introduce binary systems. Briefly talk about transistors as switches, the equivalence of power on-off, 0-1, and T-F. I will then talk about three representations: Boolean algebra, truth tables, circuit diagrams. Then cover the fundamental logic gates (AND, OR, NOT), and then the common additional gates (NAND, NOR, XOR). Show the Boolean algebra for each of these, the truth tables, and gate for each. Finally if there is time I will pull up the Logic gate practice applet to demo it (using only 1 gate for today). Mostly a lecture and discussion day, no real student activities other than have those with laptops and tablets follow along with the practice applets.
Here is an excellent resource, I may add this in the notes section of Week #2 as a resource for students who wish to go much deeper into this: http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_4/index.html
In-class discussion/activities 2nd hour
MGF 093012 NUMBER SYSTEMS: I will focus on multi-digit binary values and representations. Talk about number systems in general, then different base systems, and focus on base-2 and base-10 number systems. My preference is to teach the meaning/function of number systems and use that to do binary to decimal and back conversions rather than memorizing the conversion algorithms (which can be forgotten or used incorrectly). Refer students to the Khan academy video on this topic for them to review/study. Finally I will probably do a student activity of having groups of 3 students and giving each group a decimal value (between 128-256) to convert to binary and then go through each group to explain their conversion to the class. There is an interesting binary conversion activity in "Computer Science Unplugged". I have thought about using it in a college level class, but it might be viewed a bit silly (or maybe not)..thoughts on this?
In-class discussion/activities 3/4th hour
