Copyright

© 2016 PG Online Limited

The contents of this unit are protected by copyright.

This unit and all the worksheets, PowerPoint presentations, teaching guides and other
associated files distributed with it are supplied to you by PG Online Limited under licence
and may be used and copied by you only in accordance with the terms of the licence. Except
as expressly permitted by the licence, no part of the materials distributed with this unit may
be used, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any
means, electronic or otherwise, without the prior written permission of PG Online Limited.

Licence agreement
This is a legal agreement between you, the teaching institution, and PG Online Limited. PG
Online Limited grants to you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to use this
unit and all the worksheets, PowerPoint presentations, teaching guides and other associated
files distributed with it in the course of teaching by your teachers and/or employees.

The materials distributed with this unit may be copied and used by your teachers and/or
employees on a single site only in the course of their teaching. You warrant that you shall
not, and shall procure that each of your teachers and/or employees shall not, share in any
way any of the materials or part of the materials with any third party, including users on
another site or individuals who are teachers and/or employees of a separate institution. You
acknowledge and agree that the materials must remain with you, the teaching institution, and
no part of the materials may be transferred to another institution. You also warrant that you
shall not, and shall procure that each of your teachers and/or employees shall not, procure,
authorise, encourage, facilitate or enable any third party to reproduce these materials in
whole or in part without the prior permission of PG Online Limited.

In consideration of the licence granted to you, you shall indemnify PG Online Limited against
all liabilities, costs, expenses, damages and losses (including but not limited to any direct,
indirect or consequential losses, loss of profit, loss of reputation and all interest, penalties
and legal costs and all other professional costs and expenses) suffered or incurred by PG
Online Limited arising out of or in connection with the exercise by you of your rights granted
under this licence.

OCR A Level Computer Science: Unit 8 Boolean algebra © 2016 PG Online Ltd 2
Unit 8 Boolean algebra
Teacher’s Guide
Introduction
This teacher’s guide contains a detailed lesson plan to accompany the set of PowerPoint
slides and worksheets for each lesson.
The lessons are designed to form a basis for ideas for the teacher and should be adapted to
suit the teaching style and preferences of the individual teacher, and the resources and
nature of the individual school or Computing / ICT department.
The material supplied for this unit includes:
 4 PowerPoint presentations, each designed to cover one or two lessons
 4 worksheets
 4 homework sheets
 An end-of-unit test for assessment purposes

Summary
The unit is subdivided into four topics (plus a test). Some topics may occupy more than one
lesson, especially if time is taken to go over homework.
It is a theoretical unit covering all of Section 1.4.3 Boolean Algebra in the OCR A Level in
Computer Science (H446) specification. The unit begins with two lessons on logic gates and
Boolean algebra. The third lesson covers Karnaugh maps and the fourth lesson, D type flip
flops, half and full adders.

OCR A Level Computer Science: Unit 8 Boolean algebra © 2016 PG Online Ltd 3
Learning Outcomes for the unit
At the end of this Unit all students should be able to:
 construct truth tables for a variety of logic gates
 draw and interpret logic gate circuit diagrams involving multiple gates
 write a Boolean expression for a given logic gate circuit
 draw an equivalent logic gate circuit for a given Boolean expression
 Draw a Karnaugh map corresponding to a given expression or truth table
 Draw a truth table for a half adder
 State what a D type flip flop is and what it is used for

Most students will be able to:

 Complete a truth table for a given logic gate circuit
 Represent and solve a problem using Boolean logic
 Use de Morgan’s laws to manipulate and simplify Boolean expressions
 Simplify an expression using a Karnaugh map
 Draw the logic circuit for a half adder
 Give the output from a series of connected D type flip flops

Some students will be able to:

 Draw the logic circuit for a full adder
 Explain the logic associated with D type flip flops

OCR A Level Computer Science: Unit 8 Boolean algebra © 2016 PG Online Ltd 4
Previous Learning
Students would benefit from having studied relevant material from the new KS3 National
Curriculum and more specifically a Computer Science related GCSE. However, the material
presented in this unit will not assume that students have studied these topics prior to this
course.

Suggested Resources
No specific software is required for this unit beyond a standard office suite of applications for
the presentation and printing of provided resources.

The textbook OCR AS and A Level Computer Science by PM Heathcote and RSU
Heathcote provides comprehensive coverage of all the theoretical topics in the OCR
specification (H446) and complements the unit series.

Each of the twelve sections in the book corresponds to one of the teaching units in this
series and will be extremely useful as a course textbook and also as a revision guide.
Sample questions, many taken from past exam papers, are included at the end of each
chapter and can be set as additional homework.

The book is published by PG Online in a printed and electronic edition. Please refer to
www.pgonline.co.uk for ordering and pricing details.

Vocabulary
Vocabulary associated with this Unit, such as:
logic gate, truth table, Boolean algebra, distribution, association, commutation, double
negation, Karnaugh map, D type flip flop, half adder, full adder

Assessment
Assessment will be by means of regular homework and a test with examination style
questions.

OCR A Level Computer Science: Unit 8 Boolean algebra © 2016 PG Online Ltd 5
Topic plans
Topic 4 Adders and D type flip flops

Learning Objectives:
 Recognise and trace the logic of the circuits of a half adder and a full adder
 Construct the circuit for a half adder
 Understand the logic associated with D type flip flops

Content Resources

Starter: PowerPoint Guide:

Boolean algebra Topic 4
Half adders are used to add two bits and output the sum and
Adders and D-type flip-
the carry. flops
Show the truth table for the half adder. Ask the students what
the outputs S and C will be. (Answers on next slide)
Main:
Circuit for a half-adder
Ask the students to verbalise or write down a description of the
gate. This is a good way to memorise what it looks like. They
should come up with something like:
“The circuit involves an XOR gate and an AND gate. A is
input to both gates. S is the output from the XOR gate, C
is the output from the AND gate.”
The half adder can only add two bits, so how do we add two 4-
bit numbers?
We need a full adder, which can accept the third input – the
carry from the previous addition.
The full adder combines two half adders. Having calculated
the sum of the first two bits, this sum and the carry from any
operation that has gone before are used as the input to
another XOR gate which gives the sum.
The truth table for the full adder has 3 inputs. As a class
exercise, ask the students to fill in each row, The answers are
shown one by one on the subsequent series of slides.
Concatenating full adders
Several full adders can be joined together to add together two
numbers with multiple bits.
The next slide shows two 4-bit numbers being added, each
with inputs A, B and carry C.
Below is an image of the four full adders each passing the Boolean algebra
carry bit to the next adder. Worksheet 4 Adders and
D-type flip-flops

OCR A Level Computer Science: Unit 8 Boolean algebra © 2016 PG Online Ltd 6
Give out Worksheet 1 and ask students to do Task 1. Boolean algebra
Worksheet 4 Answers

D-type flip-flops
A D-type flip-flop flips between two states, 0 and 1. The output
can only change state at the point of a clock pulse. It is then in
a stable state until the next clock pulse, when it may change,
or may remain the same. If the input D changes in between
clock pulses, the output will remain unchanged until the next
clock pulse, when it will change to the new state.
This situation is described graphically on the next few slides.
D-type flip-flops are used for creating registers and counters.
Ask students to do Task 2 on the worksheet.

Boolean algebra
Plenary Homework 4 Adders and
D-type flip-flops
Discuss their answers, and recap the main points covered in
the final slide. Boolean algebra
Homework 4 Answers
Give out Homework 4. The assessment test can be set next
week or kept as a revision exercise later on.

OCR A Level Computer Science: Unit 8 Boolean algebra © 2016 PG Online Ltd 7
Unit assessment

Learning Outcomes:
Students will
 apply their knowledge in answers to a range of questions
 be able to highlight areas of strength and any gaps in their understanding of computers

Content Resources

Students should complete the Assessment Test. Boolean algebra Unit

assessment
These tests have been designed to be printed and answered by
hand.
Boolean algebra
Unit assessment
Answers

OCR A Level Computer Science: Unit 8 Boolean algebra © 2016 PG Online Ltd 8
Acknowledgements
The authors and publisher would like to thank all contributors for their kind permission to
reproduce their photographs or images, screenshots of their websites or other copyright
material in the PowerPoint Guides.

Images unless otherwise stated © Shutterstock

Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holders and we apologise in advance for
any unintentional omissions. We would be pleased to insert the appropriate
acknowledgement in any subsequent edition of this publication.
This material contains links to relevant websites featured in the teacher’s guide. Every effort
has been made to ensure that at the time of distribution, the links remain unbroken, the
material remains up-to-date and that links are not inadvertently linked to sites that could be
considered offensive. PG Online cannot be held responsible for the content of any website
mentioned in this material. It is sometimes possible to find relocated sites by typing the
original URL into a browser. Any errors should be reported directly to
support@pgonline.co.uk and changes will be made in any subsequent editions of the
material.

Artwork

Santorini © 2015 Hilary Turnbull

Mixed media on canvas, 50x20cm
www.hilaryturnbull.co.uk

OCR A Level Computer Science: Unit 8 Boolean algebra © 2016 PG Online Ltd 9