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New York Computer Science 7-8

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Exploring the Internet
Description

In this lesson, students will be introduced to the basic concepts and components of the internet, including its history and the meaning of protocols. Students will discuss internet innovations and reflect on how the internet is used in their everyday lives.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Understand the basic concepts of the internet
  • Understand networks and how they are connected
  • Understand that a protocol is an agreed-upon method of communication
Description

In this lesson, students will explore the importance of protocols and relate how they use them in their lives.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Discuss the necessity of protocols
  • Explain how protocols help with communication
Description

In this lesson, students are presented with different ways that the Internet impacts their lives. The Internet affects the way that people communicate (emails, social media, video chat) and collaborate to solve problems.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Analyze the different ways that the Internet impacts their lives by learning about how the Internet contributes to collaboration, communication, etc
  • Evaluate whether the Internet has a more positive or negative effect on their community by citing examples from the lesson
  • Explain what the digital divide is and articulate their own opinions related to it
Description

In this lesson, students will learn what is meant by cybersecurity and explore a few news worthy cyber attacks. They will also discuss the Internet of Things and the increase in connected devices.

Cybersecurity is the protection of computer systems, networks, and data from digital attacks. Increased connectivity via the Internet of Things and reliance on computer devices to send and store data makes users more vulnerable to cyber attacks.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Define cybersecurity and its impact
  • Determine the types of personal information and digital resources that need to be protected
  • Describe trade-offs of implementing specific security safeguards
  • Describe how the Internet of Things makes people more vulnerable to cyber attacks
Description

In this lesson, students will learn about The CIA Triad. The CIA Triad is a widely-accepted security measure that should be guaranteed in every secure system. It stands for Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability.

  • Confidentiality is the protection of information from people who are not authorized to view it.
  • Integrity aims at ensuring that information is protected from unauthorized or unintentional alteration.
  • Availability is the assurance that systems and data are accessible by authorized users when and where needed.
Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Identify what the CIA triad is and how it relates to cybersecurity
  • Identify which part of the CIA triad has been broken in a given scenario
Description

In this lesson, students will learn how basic encryption and decryption works. There is a need for secrecy when sending and receiving personal information. Encryption and decryption are used to protect personal information.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Explain the need for encryption and how basic encryption and decryption works
  • Relate encryption with how it affects the CIA Triad
  • Describe the limitations of cryptographic methods.
Description

In this project, students will learn about steganography and how it is used to encrypt data. Students will develop their own encryption algorithm to hide a message in an image by manipulating the hexadecimal color codes of an image.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Define steganography and explain how it is used in cryptography
  • Use steganography to encrypt a message in an image by manipulating the hexadecimal color code of pixels
Description

In this lesson, students complete a summative assessment of the module’s learning objectives.