Network Packet Transmission

Inspired by my work with cybersecurity company, Palo Alto Networks, this lesson centers on how data moves through networks. It touches on Newton’s discovery of the color spectrum, the capture of the German Enigma coding machine during World War II, cryptography, and modern ASCII code. The primary activity is a game, similar to the “telephone”
game in which students transmit a message to another student in the room, using letters that are coded and decoded using packet structure, metaphorical DNS servers, and the ROYGBIV color theory. In a second activity, students will create objects that either actually or metaphorically securely move information from one place to another. Teams will be evaluated according to their explanation of how their object performs this task.