Day 49 - Security and Liberty - 03.16.16

Unit 2 - The Internet

In this lesson, the goal is to build student understanding of the Internet as a set of computers exchanging bits in the form of packets, and for students to identify the components of their digital footprint. To provide a hook, students compare the designs, strengths, and weaknesses of their favorite web pages. In this context, students use an unplugged activity to understand (in broad brushstrokes) the content and flow of data when browsing the Web. They compare results from different search engines and learn to refine their search techniques. They review how to assess the trustworthiness of web-based media and consider the data flow that permits targeted advertisements. Students employ appropriate tools to explore the hierarchical nature of DNS and IP. Students identify ways that a web developer’s decisions affect the user and ways that the user’s decisions impact society. The tree structure of web documents is introduced alongside HTML and CSS. Paired key encryption and authentication are introduced with an unplugged activity.

How does the Internet work?
How can we protect ourselves, our privacy, and our assets when working on the Internet?
How has the Internet affected society?

The goal for this lesson is for students to understand the role of client-side code, server-side code, and databases in delivering interactive web content. The hook is a project in which CS students collaborate with art students to publish content on the Web. Students are provided with JavaScript and PHP code and can access an SQL database from a secure shell command line as well as through PHP. Students compare languages encountered so far to generalize the concepts of sequencing instructions, selection of instructions by conditionals, iteration, and the common roles of variables. Students explore and compare career paths within computing.

How does the Internet work?
How can we protect ourselves, our privacy, and our assets when working on the Internet?
How has the Internet affected society?

The goal of this lesson is for students to personally invest in maintaining online security and to improve their personal cybersecurity hygiene. Students focus on cybersecurity from the perspectives of the user, the software developer, businesses, the nation, and the citizen. In the team competition at the end of the lesson, students explore parallel strands in encryption and security. Encryption is used as a route to explore the efficiency of algorithms and how the time required for an algorithm to execute can depend on its input.

What is the nature of attack and defense in cyber-security?
How can we protect ourselves, our privacy, and our assets when working on the Internet?
How has the Internet affected society?

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