Today marks the beginning of Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek), a week to inspire K-12 students to dive into their devices and uncover the science within. Not only this, but this week is also about promoting equity and recognizing the contributions of everyone in the computer science field, and that’s something we can totally get behind. Just as this week aims to make computer science education more accessible, we at RAFT do our best to make STEAM learning as a whole accessible, and we believe we have the perfect kit for this week. 

There’s already so much to unpack with computer science, and it might seem pretty daunting to know where to begin. Fortunately, RAFT’s Binary Birthday Bracelets Activity can help you visualize a fundamental computer science skill and get you ready for CSEdWeek.

What is this skill, exactly? Binary code, of course. After all, math is the foundation for computing technology. Since all those 0’s and 1’s can represent just about anything on a computer, why not learn the basics of binary, yourself? You can even end up with an awesome accessory in the process.

With this kit, learners will discover how to write their birthdays in binary code. Then, they will gather beads of three different colors, each representing a 0, a 1, and a space. With this color code, all that’s left is to string the beads together and you’ve got yourself a binary bracelet, perfect for CSEdWeek!

We believe this kit and this entire week show us that computer science can be for anyone. Just like STEAM learning in general, it is not reserved for a select few. After all, STEAM is all around us, including the device you’re using to read this post.