{"id":496,"date":"2025-11-25T03:07:56","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T03:07:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learndeeplytw.com\/?p=496"},"modified":"2025-12-29T03:43:05","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T03:43:05","slug":"image-representation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learndeeplytw.com\/en\/image-representation\/","title":{"rendered":"Don't Just Say \"0 is Black, 1 is White\": Teaching Image Representation via Puzzle Games"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Unplugged: The show. Part 5: Image compression - run-length coding\" width=\"1290\" height=\"968\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VsjpPs146d8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">One of the most common mistakes in teaching Computer Science is giving definitions straight away. For example, pointing to a pixelated image and saying, \"Computers use 0 and 1 to store images. 0 means black, and 1 means white.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Children might nod and memorize it, but they won't truly understand \"Why.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Following the Constructivist principle of \"Inquiry and Listening,\" we can transform this one-way lecture into a two-way \"Communication Puzzle.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"913\" height=\"447\" src=\"https:\/\/learndeeplytw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/letter-zooming-to-pixels.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-502\" srcset=\"https:\/\/learndeeplytw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/letter-zooming-to-pixels.png 913w, https:\/\/learndeeplytw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/letter-zooming-to-pixels-300x147.png 300w, https:\/\/learndeeplytw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/letter-zooming-to-pixels-768x376.png 768w, https:\/\/learndeeplytw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/letter-zooming-to-pixels-18x9.png 18w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 913px) 100vw, 913px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Phase 1: Excavating Intuition (Before showing the grid)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:clamp(14px, 0.875rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.156), 16px);\" class=\"\">Before bringing out the graph paper, start by listening to understand the child's existing mental model of computer images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:clamp(14px, 0.875rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.156), 16px);\" class=\"\"><strong>\u2705 Constructivist Interview (Effective Questioning):<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li style=\"font-size:clamp(14px, 0.875rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.156), 16px);\" class=\" translation-block\"><strong>Teacher\/Parent<\/strong>: \"Imagine I want to send this drawing of the 'Letter C' to a friend living on Mars. But I can't mail the paper, and I can't send a photo (assume Mars only has radio for voice calls). How can I use the phone to tell him exactly how to draw the same picture?\"<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li style=\"font-size:clamp(14px, 0.875rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.156), 16px);\" class=\" translation-block\"><strong>Child<\/strong>: \"Just tell him it's a C!\"<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li style=\"font-size:clamp(14px, 0.875rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.156), 16px);\" class=\" translation-block\"><strong><strong>Teacher\/Parent<\/strong><\/strong>: \"Okay, but what if he doesn't know what a C looks like? Or what if I want to draw an alien symbol? How would you describe exactly where to draw each line?\"<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:clamp(14px, 0.875rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.156), 16px);\" class=\"\"><em>(Now, zip your lips and listen. They might say \"Draw a line at the top,\" or \"Draw a straight line on the left.\" This is your cue to guide them.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Phase 2: Introducing Constraints &amp; Tools (The \"Need\" for a Grid)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:clamp(14px, 0.875rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.156), 16px);\" class=\"\">When the child realizes that verbal descriptions are imprecise (\"Draw a line on the left\" is too vague), introduce the Grid as a necessary tool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:clamp(14px, 0.875rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.156), 16px);\" class=\" translation-block\"><strong>Teacher\/Parent<\/strong>: \"Describing it with words seems hard; the drawing might end up crooked. If we both had the exact same grid paper (take out the blank 5x6 grid), would it be easier to communicate?\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:clamp(14px, 0.875rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.156), 16px);\" class=\"\"><strong>Activity Design:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li style=\"font-size:clamp(14px, 0.875rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.156), 16px);\" class=\" translation-block\">Show the child the pixelated <strong>\"C\" (black and white) <\/strong>from the material.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li style=\"font-size:clamp(14px, 0.875rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.156), 16px);\" class=\" translation-block\">Give yourself <strong>a completely blank 5x6 grid<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li style=\"font-size:clamp(14px, 0.875rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.156), 16px);\" class=\"\">Role Play: The child is the \"Computer,\" and you are the \"Screen.\"<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li style=\"font-size:clamp(14px, 0.875rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.156), 16px);\" class=\" translation-block\">Key Question: \"Looking at that picture, how would you command me so that I paint the exact same squares black? Let's try it.\"<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Phase 3: Co-constructing the Encoding System (Inventing Binary)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\" translation-block\">The aim is to <strong>let the child invent binary code<\/strong>, rather than you teaching it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\" translation-block\"><strong>Scenario Simulation:<\/strong><br>\nChild: \"First row, paint the second square black, paint the third square black...\"<br>\n<strong>Teacher<\/strong>: \"Oh no, we have an emergency! We need to send a distress signal to Mars fast. Saying 'paint black' or 'don't paint black' for every square takes too long. Is there a faster way? Can we agree on a secret code?\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><strong>Guided Dialogue (From Intuition to Formalization):<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\" translation-block\"><strong>Teacher<\/strong>: \"How about if there is color, we shout 'Yes', and if there's no color, we shout 'No'?\"<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\"><em>(After doing a few rows...)<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\" translation-block\"><strong>Teacher<\/strong>: \"What if we use numbers? Which two numbers are the simplest?\"<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\" translation-block\"><strong>Child<\/strong>: \"1 and 2? Or 0 and 1?\"<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\" translation-block\"><strong>Teacher<\/strong>: \"Great! Now, you decide: which number represents black (color), and which represents white (no color)?\"<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\" translation-block\">(Note: The textbook might say 1 is white and 0 is black. But if the child decides the opposite, <strong>accept it.<\/strong> This is a perfect opportunity to teach the concept of a Protocol\u2014as long as the sender and receiver agree on the rules, any number works. You can guide them back to the universal computer standard later.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Phase 4: Verification &amp; Visualization (Connecting to the Material)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"898\" src=\"https:\/\/learndeeplytw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/pixel-visible-grid-with-letter-and-numbers-1024x898.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-504\" style=\"width:401px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/learndeeplytw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/pixel-visible-grid-with-letter-and-numbers-1024x898.png 1024w, https:\/\/learndeeplytw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/pixel-visible-grid-with-letter-and-numbers-300x263.png 300w, https:\/\/learndeeplytw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/pixel-visible-grid-with-letter-and-numbers-768x674.png 768w, https:\/\/learndeeplytw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/pixel-visible-grid-with-letter-and-numbers-14x12.png 14w, https:\/\/learndeeplytw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/pixel-visible-grid-with-letter-and-numbers.png 1065w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><strong>Effective Questioning Examples:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td>Questioning<\/td><td>Less Effective<\/td><td>More Effective<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Tone<\/strong><\/td><td>\u300c\u770b\u9019\u5f35\u8868\uff0c\u9019\u5c31\u662f\u96fb\u8166\u5132\u5b58\u7684\u65b9\u5f0f\u300d<\/td><td>\"Look at this table. Does this coding method look similar to the one you just invented?\"<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Question Types<\/strong><\/td><td>\"What color does 0 represent?\" (Testing Facts)<\/td><td>\"Why do you think this handout uses 1 for white and 0 for black? If we swapped them, could the computer still show the letter C?\" (Probing Concepts)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Drawing\/Action<\/strong><\/td><td>(None, just reading)<\/td><td>\"Now it's your turn to make a puzzle. Draw a simple shape on the grid, then write out the string of 0s and 1s. Let's see if I can decode it.\"<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Conclusion: Why is this approach better?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Through this process, children learn more than just the fact of \"Image Representation.\" They learn:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\" translation-block\"><strong>Discretization<\/strong>: Why we need to chop an image into little squares (Pixels).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\" translation-block\"><strong>Encoding<\/strong>: Why visual signals need to be converted into numbers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\" translation-block\"><strong>Standards<\/strong>: Why we need to agree (Protocol) on whether 0 is black or white.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/learndeeplytw.com\/game\/ColourbyNumbers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Let's play<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Reference :<a href=\"https:\/\/www.csunplugged.org\/en\/topics\/image-representation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">csunplugged image-representation<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u5728\u6559\u5c0e\u96fb\u8166\u79d1\u5b78\u6642\uff0c\u6211\u5011\u5e38\u72af\u7684\u4e00\u500b\u932f\u8aa4\u662f\u76f4\u63a5\u7d66\u51fa\u5b9a\u7fa9\u3002\u4f8b\u5982\u6307\u8457\u4e00\u5f35\u50cf\u7d20\u5716\u8aaa\uff1a\u300c\u96fb\u8166\u7528 0 \u548c 1 \u4f86\u5132\u5b58\u5716\u7247\uff0c0 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,17],"tags":[35,34],"class_list":["post-496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cs-unplugged","category-representing-information","tag-35","tag-34"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/learndeeplytw.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/learndeeplytw.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/learndeeplytw.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learndeeplytw.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learndeeplytw.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/learndeeplytw.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":876,"href":"https:\/\/learndeeplytw.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496\/revisions\/876"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learndeeplytw.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/learndeeplytw.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learndeeplytw.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learndeeplytw.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}