CSC 216/s08/make plans

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Understanding Binary Trees

Binary Trees are a new concept and it is important to have a solid understanding of binary trees and how to traverse them before moving onto binary search trees.

The problem

We are given a row of letters and have no knowledge of how to order those letters. Likewise, we are given a row of numbers and asked to do the same thing.

There will be 4 groups of 3 at the front of the room. The activity is timed. You have 2 minutes to order the given lists.

You will be given a stack of circles with velcro backing. One stack will have a single letter on each circle. The letter stacks will be given to 2 groups. One stack will have a single number on each circle. The number stacks will be given to the remaining 2 groups.

You are pitted against a classmate on the opposing team and the object is to order the given list of letters and numbers. One of the three ways of traversal, Preorder Traversal, Inorder Traversal, and Postorder Traversal, will be given and you must order the circles as quickly as possible. The exercise is repeated for the other 2 members of the group, one using Inorder traversal, and the other using Postorder traversal. Times for each of the 3 runs are tallied, and the winners get 1 bonus point on the next test.

The point of this exercise is not to be told what each of the 3 traversal types are. Mistakes and confusion are expected and this is important because the exercise to be discussed with the class and each person can see if their guess on how to do it worked.

Participants and props

How many students will participate? What else do you need (e.g., old tennis ball, Powerpoint slides, software).

The script

Describe how to do your exercise.