Subject area: Digital technology, Math, Literacy, (possible Science and HASS integration)

Year level: Upper Primary

Task: Students will encode, decode, transmit, receive and store messages for a hypothetical rescue mission, using a code sheet and flashlight for this process.

Lesson sequence:

• Students are provided a hook for a rescue mission carried out in areas of low visibility.
• They practice creating codes for their mission (whole class) and implement their codes in teams in a darkened room using a flashlight.
• All the procedures and codes are recorded in their graphic organizer to check for understanding.
• The aim of the game is to process the messages of the opponent team in the shortest time possible and save all the members.

The idea has been adapted from https://www.teachengineering.org/activities/view/wpi_code_sue. Although the lesson is designed for higher grades, they can be easily adapted for Years 5/6 and could form the basis for discussion about ASCII codes and binary number system.