Students identify computer system.
Students identify attributes of Local Area Networks (LANs) and Wide Area Networks (WANs).
The objective for this section is for students to begin to take a look "under the hood" of the computer system and computing networks. Based on their experience making web pages, student will explore how their inputs became a web page on Google's server, and how their web page on Google's server becomes displayed onto their client computer.
In this unit they will be introduced to terms and purpose of hardware and software. In Unit 3, they will revisit the terms and purpose to explore wireless networks, evaluate computer systems and LAN topologies, and explore networking trends and issues using EarSketch as a connecting theme.
Activity 1 (Budget 20 minutes)
Students explore resources to identify computer system, LAN, and WAN terms.
1. Show this two minute video to the class on Client Server Computer Architecture and facilitate a very short class discussion on which computer, their classroom or Google's, is the client and which computer is the server.
2. Pair students and give exploration handout (1) Client Inputs to Google's Server to one student in the pair and exploration handout (2) Google's Server web page to Client's Display to the other student in the pair. Instruct all students to do the exploration on part 1 of their handout.
Activity 2 (Budget 60 minutes)
Students compare the focus of Client to Server and Server to Client computer network paths and create a digital artifact on the computer system and computer networks.
1. Pair students so that they can discuss and write down the focus of the similarities and differences of their Client-Server paths on part 2 of their handout.
(Handout 1 on Client to Server is more focused on computer system inputs, processing and LANs while handout 2 is focused on Server to Client is more focused on WAN hardware and computer processing and computer system outputs)
2. Facilitate a short class discussion on the similarities and differences that they found in their exploration handouts.
3. Give student pairs the the part 2 assignment that is on both handouts to make a digital artifact (Story Jumper, PowerPoint Slides or some other platform that you choose or they choose with your consent) where one partner explains all major aspects of the computer system and the other partner explains major aspects of LANs and WANs.