Booleans Lesson Plan: Dealer and Decider Card Game

Lesson Procedure:

1. Display the pictures of the two dogs to the class. Ask, "Should we play fetch with Chomsky OR Brash, or should we play fetch with Chomsky AND Brash?" Ask your students to explore the difference between "OR" and "AND."
2. Make sure students understand that "AND" means you’ll play fetch with both dogs, while "OR" means only one dog gets to play.
3. Show the BrainPOP Jr. movie Booleans to the whole class. Pause at various points to reinforce student understanding of key concepts and vocabulary.
4. After the movie, divide the class into small groups. In each group, assign one student to be the Dealer and the other students to be the Deciders. Have the dealer lay 16 cards down on the table: All four aces, all four 2 cards, all four 3 cards, and all four 4 cards.
5. Instruct the Dealer to select a Decider who will determine which cards to remove using a boolean "AND" command. An example of an "AND" command is: "Remove all cards that are 3s AND are black." Have all the students in the group count how many cards are removed.
6. Next, have the Dealer pick a Decider who will determine which cards to remove using an "OR" command. An example of an "OR" command is, "Remove all cards that are 2s OR are red." How many cards are removed using an OR command?
7. Now, let the Dealer pick a Decider who will determine which cards to remove using a "NOT" command. Example: "Remove all cards that are NOT numbers." How many cards are removed? Ensure that all students have a chance to be the Dealer or Decider.
8. Finally, bring the class together again. Ask what they think the game has to do with booleans. They should recognize that with booleans, the "AND" command limits options and "OR" expands options. Is that true with Chomsky and Brash? Is that true of the "NOT" command? Students should understand that just as they gave boolean conditions to their classmates, programmers create booleans that tell a computer to perform specific actions.