I’m wrapping up chapter 2 lessons 8 through 11 and get the feeling that my students need a break from the internet simulator and a chance to formalize what they’ve learned so far.
I noticed that there are multiple supplemental readings once we get to DNS to support student learning.
Does anyone have any supplemental materials that might be helpful for the first four lessons?
I’d like to give one in class and give my students a chance to read, highlight, annotate, take some notes, discuss and feel like they have some very concrete takeaways.
Okay, so I’m going to go ahead and answer my own question just in case it’s helpful for anyone else…
In Blown to Bits, the appendix section entitled “The Internet as a Communication System” (pdf pages 319 to 327) provides a really great summary and some extension of the first four lessons of Chapter 2 with good analogies to the postal system. (ex. You couldn’t send a two ton package to your Aunt Mary via USPS!)
I’m going to have my students do a reading and answer some questions about it in class so they have some concrete reference material related to the lessons so far.
@ebeastlake I had my students read the same thing - my students said it was really useful. Some students felt like it was review of what we did in class (which it was) but other students needed that review to contextualize everything. I gave them a short reading quiz on it too just as an accountability check point.
My students are also getting tired of the simulator. Also, I checked the sample AP test questions and there are a couple of questions on internet security which is not covered in the new Internet course. The old course from 2105-16 does. So I am going to have them watch a few videos and take a quiz on internet security.
Could you please list the lessons from 2015-16 that you will be using and perhaps the question numbers from the sample test? Also, please share your quiz. Let us know how it goes.
Great find. I have had my students read various excerpts from Blown to Bits. They seem to enjoy the style of writing. I have them annotate and use evidence from the excerpts to support their thinking. We spent some time on chapter 1 to stress that whatever they post online is permanent.
