This isn't exactly a programming question but it is related.
I had read a fascinating article a while ago about a teacher who explained how he taught base 2 notation to first grade children, without even "teaching" them anything but making them discover both the problem and the solutions by asking relevant questions.
I can't find this article anymore, anywhere on the Web -- can anyone help?
Thanks.
He's using the Socratic method, so a search yields Teaching by Asking Instead of by Telling by Rick Garlikov.
From the text:
The experiment was to see whether I could teach these students binary arithmetic [...]
But only you know if this is the article you were looking for.
One method from my study class social competence: paradox intervention.
Claim you can count up to 1024 just with your ten fingers. They won't believe you, but you can. Each finger stands for one digit. If your finger is out, it stands for 1, otherwise for 0. All ten fingers out will represent 1023.
You can also try it with a method from "Die Sendung mit der Maus" (German teaching television). A marble run with buttons and a lamp on each twist: All lights off: 0 If you throw a marble, it hit's the first button and falls out of the run. If you throw the second, the button is switched again (lamp 1 off) and will let the marble roll further. The marble will hit the second switch (lamp 2 on) and falls out of the run.
So children can see, how to count with base 2. It may help you