Draw a digital 8 on the board to introduce an activity that uses the seven segment display to show how any information can be encoded into functions.

  • Pique students’ interest in encoding information by drawing a seven segment representation of an 8, the digital 8, on the board.
    • The digital 8 is the 8 on a digital alarm clock, a digital kitchen timer, and so much more.
  • This activity has students fill out a table signifying which segments of the seven segment display will be on to represent a number 0 to 9.
  • Activity:
    • Name each segment of the seven segment display with a letter from the alphabet, a to g.
    • Create a 7x10 table.
      • Label each column with a letter, a to g, and each row with a number 0 to 9.
    • Have students fill out the table with 1s and 0s representing when a segment is on or off.
      • 1 is on and 0 is off.
      • If a student is having trouble, tell them to fill in the segments that should be on with 1s first and then put 0s everywhere else.
  • Let students know that they now understand the fundamentals of boolean algebra.
A digital 8 labeled with letters a through g and a table filled with 1s and 0s as specified in the instructions.

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External Source
Mina Theofilatou's blog post