Experience CS

Lesson 2

Packets everywhere

In this lesson, students explore how digital messages are broken into smaller pieces called packets to reliably travel across networks. Students first experience the difficulty of receiving large messages all at once. They then compare the experience to receiving the same message in smaller, structured parts. Students participate in an unplugged activity to create, label, and send packets around the classroom to model how packet information supports accurate network communication. Finally, students create variables in Scratch to simulate digital packets that act as containers for information in a structured network.

school

Grade 6

local_library

Subject Language Arts, Technology, Social studies

schedule

Length of lesson 50 minutes

Learning objective

Students will model packetization using variables in Scratch.

Standards

🌐 CSTA Standards

2-AP-11: Create clearly named variables that represent different data types and perform operations on their values.
2-AP-13: Decompose problems and subproblems into parts to facilitate the design, implementation, and review of programs
2-NI-04: Model the role of protocols in transmitting data across networks and the Internet.

🇺🇸 Common Core Standards

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.6.4: Present claims and findings, sequencing ideas logically and using pertinent descriptions, facts, and details to accentuate main ideas or themes; use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.

🇺🇸 College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework

D2.Geo.7.6-8: Explain how changes in transportation and communication technology influence the spatial connections among human settlements and affect the diffusion of ideas and cultural practices.