Alien Math: Exploring Alternative Number Bases

In this 4 week course, students will practice translating numbers in several different base number systems. We will start with something simple, like base 4, and if it feels right to the group, work up to base 12, which gets really fun because our fingers can be used to count, add, subtract, multiply and divide in this base (look at all four of your fingers and notice that each finger has 3 sections, and 3x4 = 12!). After listening to a mini lesson, students will have time to work on math problems that go with the base we are currently working on and ask questions. 

For people who learn to speak multiple languages, their understanding of grammar, tenses and language development becomes more deeply understood. They have to learn how to perceive language in a different way. This is the same for learning to compute in a different base, creating a more in-depth view of what numbers are to increase understanding when computing. 

Class Format and Structure: 

I will begin with a mini lesson on how to compute in a different base using video, screen sharing and a whiteboard. Then I will give the students several practice problems to work out on their own, asking questions as they need and then sharing aloud how they solved the problems with the other students. I highly value their thought process over just getting the right answer! 

During the final class, we will review the number bases we already explored and I will encourage students to pick a base and explain how to translate numbers in that base to others. Students can imagine their own alien with a different number of fingers and share with us how their alien counts and computes in this different number system. We have ten fingers and use the base-ten number system, but their alien might have only 6 fingers and therefore computing in base 6 would make more sense for them. This will be a fun way for the student to practice teaching what they have practiced and learned in this course. 

* I have adjusted the learner age for this class to 9-11. I have another listing for 11-13 year olds where we will move at faster pace and cover each base with more depth.