We present a learning path on cryptography for primary school students (Grade 5), which we designed and tested. The project aims to raise initial awareness of the core ideas of modern cryptography, which are fundament...
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ISBN:
(纸本)9798400706004
We present a learning path on cryptography for primary school students (Grade 5), which we designed and tested. The project aims to raise initial awareness of the core ideas of modern cryptography, which are fundamental concepts for becoming informed and active citizens in modern digital society. For this reason, we designed a progression of unplugged activities (sometimes integrated with task-specific, block-based programming environments) to expose students to different cryptographic techniques, where each new activity is motivated by an analysis of the criticalities encountered previously. We used unplugged activities to show that Computer Science (CS) does not necessarily imply the use of digital devices and to allow students to focus on its general scientific principles. We describe the designed learning module, discuss the main hinges in the experiment, and reflect on the lessons learned. The final evaluation showed excellent learning outcomes and high satisfaction with the activities. As cryptography uses mathematical tools (e.g., modular arithmetic, statistics), some parts of which are within reach of primary school children but rarely taught to them, it was possible to dwell on these aspects, making them experience mathematical objects in a non-standard context, and also stimulating a greater awareness of the impact of mathematics and CS in everyday life.
We report our experience of an extracurricular online intervention on cryptography in Grade 10. Our first goal is to describe how we taught some fundamental cryptography ideas by making students encounter a progressio...
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ISBN:
(纸本)9781450392013
We report our experience of an extracurricular online intervention on cryptography in Grade 10. Our first goal is to describe how we taught some fundamental cryptography ideas by making students encounter a progression of representative cryptosystems, from classical to modern, and discover their characteristics and limitations. We used Snap! (a visual programming language) to realize hands-on activities: block-programming playgrounds (a form of task-specific programming languages) to experiment with cryptosystems, and an interactive app to support an unplugged (albeit remote) DiffieHellman key agreement. After experimenting with each system, the students were involved in a Socratic discussion on how to overcome the discovered limitations, motivating the introduction of the following system in our path. Our second goal is to evaluate the students' perceptions and learning of cryptography core ideas. They appreciated the course and felt that, despite being remote, it was fun and engaging. According to the students, the course helped them understand the role of cryptography, CS, and Math in society and sparked their interest in cryptography and CS. The final assessment showed that the students well understood the cryptography ideas addressed. Our third goal is to discuss what worked and areas of improvement. The "remote-unplugged" Diffie-Hellman, where the meeting chat was a metaphor for the public channel, engaged the students in understanding this groundbreaking protocol. Overall, they praised the activities as engaging, even when challenging. However, a strong "instructor blindness" induced by remote teaching often prevented us from giving the students the right amount of guidance during the exploration activities.
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