Computer Science Unplugged Class Summary 10/7/13

with Leigh Ann Yoder

The Magic of Error Detection!

We opened class by sharing our Text Compression puzzles with one another. This was a challenging exercise for some of the students, and that is OK! Some will be better at making puzzles, some at solving, and some may have trouble with this exercise altogether. There are many types of puzzle solving, and generally speaking no one would be good at all of them. For homework, I have provided a link with different types of puzzles that the students should try. Also for homework, do the Locking a Dead Man’s Chest Activity. Do the activity at this website -- be warned…it is challenging!

We continued our discussion of Algorithms with some magic! The students learned a new card trick that again illustrates the value of algorithms. The trick and solution can be found here.

Next, we embarked on Error Detection and Correction with another magic trick. The students should be able to perform this trick at home using a standard deck of cards. The point of the trick was to teach the concept of adding parity bits to recognize when data has been corrupted and also to reconstruct the original data.

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To further demonstrate Error Detection, we used checksums to validate ISBN numbers. The students each validated at least one ISBN number. I taught another simple trick using checksums, a calculator, and the magical number nine! Hopefully the students will demonstrate this trick to a member of their family.

Please remember we have no class next week.  Enjoy your break!