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Domino Logic Gates. Fun and hands-on.

Domino logic Gates: A hands on lesson on boolean logic

One of my favourite classes this year was one where we built domino Logic gates. We were seven weeks into a first year maths course for computer science students. We had been working through sets  then algebra and then Boolean Algebra. Each week we had one three hour lecture (horrific, right). In the seventh week there was the first in class test for the module and I knew that the students were going to be tired after doing the test and I needed to keep it "light" somehow for the remainder of the three hour period. I was also working with these same students in a module called Effective Learning and Development and from discussion in that module I knew that a few of the learners were the type of learner that liked to move and do hands on work (there was a time that I would have said they were learners with a kinesthetic learning style but I know that is all out of vogue at the moment). I had been thinking of ways to try to incorporate some movement and hands on work in the maths classes. So with these two motivations in mind I dived into a google search to see what I could come up with.

I found this fabulous worksheet from think-maths.co.uk.
It has great explanations and instructions for creating the domino gates.
Then I searched further and found some great videos from the reliably brilliant Numberphile.
Domino Addition - Numberphile
The 10,000 Domino Computer

I was sold. This was exactly the kind of task that I wanted to try out with my students. So off I went on the search for packs of cheap dominos. Flying Tiger is always worth a shot when looking for cheap teacher supplies so I found what I was looking for fairly quickly. 

Once the students had finished their in class test and had a short break we went straight into watching some selected snippets from the Numberphile videos. His enthusiasm was great to get the class up for the task. Then I handed out the worksheets and packs of dominos and basically let them at it. I suggested that if they wanted to they could post videos or photos of their work on twitter using the hashtag #gccmaths. The energy in the room was brilliant. I was so happy with how much they got into it.
I've included some of their work here. Keep in mind that these students are all in third level and adult students who choose to share their work on twitter. I love the time and effort students put into the videos.





So what about the learning? This is very difficult to judge. Did the use of hands on materials make boolean logic more understandable and memorable to the students? I'm not sure, but I like to think so.
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