A complete 60-minute lesson on binary numbers, ready to teach. Pupils learn why computers use binary, convert between binary and denary using a place-value grid, and add binary numbers with carries. It’s written so a non-specialist can teach it from the lesson plan alone.
Lesson outline (60 minutes)
- Do now: how many patterns can 2 bits make?
- Why binary: transistors, bits and bytes
- Place values: 128, 64, 32, 16, 8, 4, 2, 1
- Worked examples: binary to denary, and denary to binary using the subtraction method
- Binary addition: the four rules and carrying, checked in denary
- Your-turn questions: answers stay hidden until you click, and the bit grid fills in as you reveal
- 15 minutes of practice on the self-marking drill, with shifts and hex as stretch questions
- Exit ticket: the largest number 4 bits can hold
What’s included
- slides.html: 13 slides that open in any browser. Click or press → to reveal each answer.
- slides.pdf: the same slides as a PDF
- lesson-plan.pdf: objectives, curriculum link, key vocabulary, a minute-by-minute plan with what to say, answers and misconceptions
- drill.html: 12 self-marking questions: conversions, binary addition, left shifts and hex
- worksheet.pdf: a paper version of the drill with write-in place-value grids and an answer page
- how-to-use.pdf: opening the files, showing them on the board and sharing with pupils
Feedback that teaches
The drill spots common mistakes and explains them. Read the bits backwards? It says so. Forgot to carry? It says: “You added each column but forgot to carry. 1 + 1 = 10: write 0, carry 1.” Say 256 is the biggest 8-bit number? It explains why it’s 255.
No logins, no installs and no pupil data. It works offline on school PCs, laptops and Chromebooks.
National Curriculum KS3: understand how numbers can be represented in binary, and be able to carry out simple operations on binary numbers [for example, binary addition, and conversion between binary and decimal].
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£5.00