How the Internet Reaches You Grades 9 to 12
12 weeks Coming
Leading the mission.
How the Internet Reaches You Grades 9 to 12 is a 12-week course on how data travels from a server to your screen: packets, Wi-Fi, fiber and satellites. The made-up Starling Commons puts its weekly bulletin online, and the page is slow on the library computers and will not load at all for a cousin across an ocean. With Comet, Wren and Nova, students follow the page one step at a time: the URL and the request, packets, addresses, TCP and UDP, DNS, routers and ISPs, the fiber cables under the ocean, Wi-Fi, cellular radio and satellites, the lock in the address bar, attacks such as phishing and denial of service, and how sites stay up on a busy night. They keep a Trip Log and finish with a Network Report to the Commons council: where the time goes, and which security measures to recommend and why. It practices CSTA Level 3A standards; it is not an AP course and is not affiliated with College Board. Short daily lessons with checked answers, an unplugged Packet Lab each week with paper, string and sticky notes, and a Saturday Mission Quest for the family. No accounts, apps or network tools needed, and students never scan, probe or log into any network. 100% free, start to finish.
What your kid will learn
- Trace a web page's trip from a typed URL to the screen: name lookup, connection, request and response
- Explain how packets, IP addresses, routers and TCP make delivery reliable across networks of networks
- Explain how DNS turns names into numbers and why caching makes it fast
- Compute delays from distance and the speed of light, and compare fiber, Wi-Fi, cellular and satellite links
- Explain what HTTPS and TLS protect, and give examples of how phishing, malware and denial of service affect sensitive data
- Recommend security measures for a community group and explain the tradeoffs between usability and security
10 to 15 minutes a day, four or five days a week.
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How the Internet Reaches You Grades 9 to 12 is being built right now. Pop your email in below and we will let you know the day it opens. It will be free in full, start to finish, no card.
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