Encoding and Decoding Activity

Introduce students to the binary system and the ASCII alphabet using flash cards with dots which correspond to each bit. Once comfortable with the students confidence and understanding of the systems, distribute a copy of the ASCII alphabet, a length of string and beads of two colours (one to represent on/1 and one to represent off/0). Instruct students to thread their beads onto the string in the correct order to encode their name or a randomly assigned word and have students swap threaded ‘bracelets’ to decode the words. Depending on the year level and ability of the students, instruction could be differentiated to be less challenging, by starting with the first letter of their name, or more difficult and encourage them to encode and decode a whole sentence or phrase.