I found an education website called ‘Digital Technologies Hub’ that is filled with resources on computational thinking and digital technologies in the classroom with lesson plans aimed at specific year groups.

The lesson I have found that would be engaging and appropriate for Year 5/6 students is on using binary to create on/off pictures, integrating the base 2 system and the idea of on and off in computer programming.

The hook of this activity involves group work with physical black and white cards on a 5×5 grid to make a pattern and a coinciding verbal discussion on pixels and on/off colour representations; focusing on key metalanguage.

The outcome of this lesson plan is students creating and sharing pictures they have created in a pixel picture in an 8×8 grid either on the computer or on paper. This will be followed by swapping pictures with another student and developing a code for each line of the picture consisting of 8 numbers (0s and 1s).

This guided then collaborative effort explores pixels, on/off concepts and code writing.

Please see this website link: https://www.digitaltechnologieshub.edu.au/teachers/lesson-ideas/using-binary-to-create-on-off-pictures

APA Reference:

Digital Technologies Hub. (n.d.). Using Binary to Create On/Off Pictures. Education Services Australia. Retrieved October 17, 2021, from https://www.digitaltechnologieshub.edu.au/teachers/lesson-ideas/using-binary-to-create-on-off-pictures