Safety, Security & Privacy

Activity type Guided discussion - Visual classification - Personal reflection

Duration 30 minutes

Grouping Whole Class/Pairs/Individual

Description

Students explore the difference between public and private spaces and information through guided discussion and visual examples. Using familiar everyday situations, learners practice classifying what is usually public or private and reflect on the idea that individuals can choose what information they keep private or share. The activity builds early awareness of privacy, boundaries, and personal responsibility.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this activity, learners will:

• Distinguish between public and private spaces and information
• Explain why some things should be kept private
• Recognize that people can choose what they share
• Practice respectful discussion and personal decision-making

Materials

• Visual aids or flash cards showing examples of places and information (See Appendix A)
• Student worksheet with checkboxes for Public / Private (See Appendix B)
• Pencils or crayons

Equipment

• Whiteboard or poster board
• Markers
• Nice-to-have: Projector or screen for images

PROCEDURE

OPENING 

1. Prepare visual aids or slides showing examples such as a park, bus, washroom, car, eye colour, password, bank PIN.
2. Prepare the board with two headings: PUBLIC and PRIVATE.
3. Place worksheets and writing materials where they can be easily distributed.

PRE-ACTIVITY

5 minutes

1. Ask students: “What does ‘public’ mean?” and “What does ‘private’ mean?”
2. Accept multiple answers and do not correct yet.
3. Explain that today they will look at everyday examples and decide together.

Objective In Student’s Words

•  “Assess what things are public, what things are private, and what I want to share.”

ACTIVITY

20 minutes

Setup

1. Explain that some things are usually public, some are usually private, and some depend on choice.
2. Introduce the idea that there is not always one correct answer.

Model

1. Show one example such as a park.
2. Think aloud: “Many people can go there and see it, so we usually say this is public.”
3. Show a second example such as a password.
4. Think aloud: “This belongs only to one person, so we usually keep it private.”

Carry Out

1. Show one visual example at a time.
2. Ask students to vote or raise their hands for ‘public’ or ‘private’.
3. Place the example under the matching heading on the board.
4. Ask follow-up questions such as “Why?” or “Could this ever change?”
5. Use examples such as park, bus, washroom, car, eye colour, password, bank PIN.

Checkpoint

1. Ask students to explain the difference between public and private in their own words.
2. Listen for understanding rather than memorized definitions.

Reflection

• Ask: “Is eye colour always private?”
• Ask: “Can something be private even if other people can see it?”
• Guide students toward the idea that people choose what information they share.

FOLLOW-UP

5 minutes

1. Distribute the checkbox worksheet.
2. Students decide for each item whether they would keep it public or private.
3. Emphasize that answers may be different for different people.

CLOSE

1. Collect worksheets and materials.
2. Summarize key idea: “You get to decide what information you share.”
3. Final message to students: “Being smart about privacy helps keep you safe.”

NOTES

Classroom management

• Encourage respectful listening and differing opinions
• Avoid asking students to share sensitive personal information

Extensions & Sponge Activities

• Add digital examples such as usernames or photos
• Create a class rule poster for sharing information
• Look at super-heroes and villains - why do they protect their identity?
• Make a diagram of information each students wants to share/keep private

Differentiation

• Younger students: use only place-based examples
• Older students: move to more difficult subjects (DNA, Facial Recognition, GPS location, Name)
• ELL/Accessibility: visuals, gestures, simple language
• Safety: avoid asking for real passwords or personal data

Activity type Simulation game - Guided discussion - Experiential learning

Duration 40-50 minutes

Grouping Small teams, whole class discussion

Description

Students explore how information changes depending on who carries it and who is allowed to hear it. Through a series of short message-passing games with changing rules, learners experience trust, mistakes, and intentional interference firsthand. Reflection focuses on how messages can change, leak, or be protected, and who should decide who gets access to information. 

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this activity, learners will:

• Experience how information can change when passed between people
• Recognize the difference between mistakes and intentional changes
• Understand that not everyone should hear every message
• Begin thinking critically about trust, privacy, and control of information

Materials

• Prepared short and long message cards (for teacher reference) (See Appendix A)
• Paper and pencil for running dictation variant 
• Nice-to-have: Simple symbol or substitution code sheet for optional locked message (See Appendix B)

Equipment

• Open classroom space for movement
• Whiteboard or poster board for reflection notes
• Nice-to-have: Timer

PROCEDURE

OPENING 

1. Prepare simple and complex messages in advance.
2. Decide team groupings of 6–8 students.
3. Clear space so students can line up or move safely.

PRE-ACTIVITY

5 minutes

1. Ask students if they have ever played telephone.
2. Ask whether the message always stays the same.
3. Explain that today they will test who can be trusted with a message.
4. Avoid introducing technical or abstract terms.

Objective In Student’s Words

•  “See what happens to a message when different people carry it.”

ACTIVITY

30-35 minutes

Setup

1. Divide the class into small teams.
2. Explain that each team will run several short rounds with the same structure but different rules.
3. Emphasize that no one is in trouble for mistakes.

Model

1. Demonstrate whispering rules using a very short example.
2. Reinforce rules clearly: whisper only, no repeating, no fixing mistakes.

Carry Out

Round 1 – Easy Message (Trusted Chain)

1. Whisper a very simple sentence to the first student.
2. Students pass the message by whispering down the line.
3. The last student says the message out loud.
4. Checkpoint: Was the message correct, did anyone change it on purpose, did it feel easy to trust the group?

Round 2 – Hard Message (Complex Information)

1. Use the same setup with a longer, more precise sentence.
2. Run the whisper chain again.
3. The last student says the message out loud.
4. Checkpoint: What changed, where did it break, was anyone being bad or was it just hard?

Round 3 – Hidden Rule (Intentional Change)

1. Use the same complex message.
2. Secretly tell one student in the middle they may change one word.
3. Do not announce that this rule exists.
4. Run the whisper chain.
5. Checkpoint: Did this feel different from mistakes, how could we tell something was wrong, what felt unfair?

Optional Variant – Running Dictation (Control vs Trust)

Round 4 – Trusted Runner

1. Place the message written on paper across the room.
2. One student runs to read it and returns to tell the writer.
3. The writer records the message.
4. Checkpoint: Was this clearer than whispering and why?

Round 5 – Untrusted Space

1. Add a listener near the runner’s path.
2. The listener may hear but must not see the message.
3. Checkpoint: Who learned something they shouldn’t have and was the message still safe?

Optional Final Twist – Locked Message

1. Repeat running dictation with the message written in a simple symbol code (See Appendix B).
2. Ask students to observe who can understand it.
3. Checkpoint: Who can read it and who hears it but learns nothing?

Reflection

1. Ask who should hear everything.
2. Ask who should hear nothing.
3. Ask who should decide.
4. Allow students to name the problem in their own words.

FOLLOW-UP

5-10 minutes

1. Review that messages can change, leak, or be altered.
2. Reinforce that trust depends on rules and boundaries.
3. Connect to earlier lessons on public versus private information. 

CLOSE

5 minutes

1. Thank students for participating honestly.
2. Reset the classroom layout.
3. Final message to students: Being careful with information helps protect people.

NOTES

Classroom management

• Normalize mistakes and emotional reactions while maintaining calm control.
• Do not accuse or reveal the hidden rule-breaker unless students explicitly ask.

Extensions & Sponge Activities

• Write a class rule for protecting messages or redesign the game to make it fairer. 

Differentiation

• Younger students: shorter messages and fewer rounds.
• ELL/Accessibility: visual cues, slower pacing, buddy support.
• Safety: controlled movement and clear whispering rules.

Activity type Craft - Individual decoding activity - Guided practice

Duration 45-60 minutes

Grouping Individual work with whole class demonstration

Description

Students are introduced to the idea of codes as a way to hide and protect information. Through a hands-on craft, learners build a simple cipher wheel and use it to encode and decode Bitcoin-related vocabulary. The activity combines fine motor skills, logical thinking, and early cryptographic concepts while reinforcing new terminology in a playful and concrete way. 

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this activity, learners will: 

• Understand the meaning of encode and decode; recognize that changing a code changes the output; use a cipher wheel to encode and decode simple words; correctly decode and encode selected Bitcoin vocabulary.

Materials

• Printed cipher wheel templates with inner and outer alphabet rings (See Appendix A)
• Printed worksheet with encoded Bitcoin vocabulary (See Appendix B)
• Pencils, crayons, or markers
• Nice-to-have: Pre-made cipher wheel for demo, Brads or split pins for fastening wheels, Extra practice worksheets

Equipment

• Scissors
• Whiteboard or poster board
• Nice-to-have: Projector demonstration, Left-handed scissors

PROCEDURE

OPENING 

Teacher setup

1. Print and prepare cipher wheel templates and worksheets.
2. Pre-cut one large demonstration cipher wheel or prepare a visual version for the board.
3. Ensure scissors and pins are safely distributed.

PRE-ACTIVITY

5 minutes

1. Ask students if they know what a secret code is.
2. Ask where they have seen codes before such as games, secret messages, or locks.
3. Introduce the words encode and decode using simple language.
4. Explain that today they will learn how to hide and reveal words using a code.

Objective In Student’s Words

•  “Make a secret code tool and use it to hide and read words.”

ACTIVITY

35-45 minutes

Setup

1. Explain that letters can be shifted to make secret messages.
2. Draw the alphabet on the board and show a simple letter shift such as A becomes D.

Model

1. Demonstrate encoding a short word using a letter shift.
2. Demonstrate decoding the same word back to the original.
3. Introduce the cipher wheel and show how turning it changes the output letters.
4. Explain that the number of steps the wheel is turned changes the result.

Carry Out

Part 1 – Cipher Wheel Craft

1. Students cut out the inner and outer alphabet circles.
2. Students place the smaller circle on top of the larger one.
3. Students fasten the circles together with a pin so the wheel can turn freely.
4. Students test the wheel by aligning different letters.

Checkpoint

1. Ask students to decode one word together as a class.
2. Check that students understand how changing the wheel changes the result.

Part 2 – Encode and Decode Practice

1. Students use their cipher wheel to decode words on the worksheet.
2. Students encode given Bitcoin vocabulary words using a chosen letter shift.
3. Circulates to support students and check understanding.

Reflection

• Ask students what happened when they changed the wheel position.
• Ask whether the same word always looks the same when the code changes.
• Ask why someone might want to hide information this way.

FOLLOW-UP

2 minutes

• Review key terms: encode, decode, code, message.

CLOSE

• Collect scissors and materials.
• Allow students to keep their cipher wheels.
• Final message to students: “Changing the code changes the message, but the meaning stays the same.”

NOTES

Classroom management

• Supervise scissor and pin use carefully.
• Encourage patience during the craft stage.

Extensions & Sponge Activities

• Timed decoding challenge using new encoded words.
• Play a decoding challenge such as cipher hangman where the encoded word is written on the board.

Differentiation

• Younger students: Shorter words and fixed letter shift, Use non-Bitcoin vocabulary
• Older students: Choose and record their own letter shift for others to solve.
• ELL/Accessibility: visual alphabet guides and peer support.
• Safety: blunt scissors and monitored pin use.

Activity type Simulation game – Craft-based encoding – Competitive challenge

Duration 50-60 minutes

Grouping Small teams of three students

Description

Building on earlier activities about trust, message passing, and interception, students now compare open information transfer with encoded communication. Learners first experience how relaying information requires trusting intermediaries and how messages can be overheard or altered. They then introduce cipher wheels to protect messages, discovering that information can remain private even when passed through untrusted or public channels.

Pre-requisites

• 4.2 - Telephone
• 4.3 - Cypherpunks Write Code

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this activity, learners will:

• Review how information transmission requires trust in intermediaries
• Recognize how messages can leak or change when transmitted openly;
• Understand that encoding protects information even when intermediaries are untrusted
• Successfully encode and decode vocabulary using a cipher wheel.

Materials

• Prepared word or sentence cards for transmission
• Cipher wheel templates for each student (See Appendix A)
• Worksheets or blank paper for transcription
• Pencils or markers
• Nice-to-have: Example simple and complex messages (See Appendix B)

Equipment

• Scissors
• Split pins or brads for cipher wheels
• Open classroom space for movement
• Nice-to-have: Timer

PROCEDURE

OPENING 

1. Arrange the room with two tables per team placed far apart to create distance.
2. Place open message cards at each sender table.
3. Prepare cipher wheel materials but keep them hidden until Phase 2.

PRE-ACTIVITY

5 minutes

1. Ask students to recall the previous activity where messages were whispered or relayed.
2. Ask what problems they noticed with trust, mistakes, or overhearing.
3. Remind students that last time they could not keep messages private.
4. Explain that today they will test whether that problem can be solved.

Objective In Student’s Words

•  “Find a better way to send messages without everyone needing to be trusted.”

ACTIVITY

40–45 minutes

Setup

1. Divide students into teams of three.
2. Assign roles: Player 1 is the Sender, Player 2 is the Runner, Player 3 is the Receiver.
3. Explain that roles will stay the same throughout the activity.

Model

1. Demonstrate a short running dictation round using an open message.
2. Point out that the runner must remember and repeat the message exactly.
3. Remind students that anyone nearby can overhear the message.

Phase 1 – Open Transmission (Trust Required)

1. Player 1 silently reads the message at the sender table.
2. Player 1 quietly reads the message to Player 2 at the sender table.
3. Player 2 runs to Player 3 and relays the message verbally.
4. Player 3 writes down what they hear.
5. Player 2 may run back and forth as needed.
6. The first team to successfully transmit the message wins.

Checkpoint Discussion

• Ask whether the final message matched the original.
• Ask whether runners overheard other teams.
• Ask whether the runner had the power to change the message.
• Reinforce that the system only worked if the runner was trusted.

Phase 2 – Encoded Transmission (Trust Reduced)

1. Distribute cipher wheel materials and allow students to assemble them.
2. Sender and Receiver privately agree on a letter shift using the wheel.
3. Player 1 encodes a new message using the agreed cipher.
4. Player 2 relays only the encoded message without knowing its meaning.
5. Player 3 transcribes and decodes the message using the cipher wheel.

Competition Rules

• Teams earn points for correct decoding.
• Speed and accuracy both matter.
• Runners are not allowed to learn the cipher.

Reflection

1. Ask what changed between open and encoded transmission.
2. Ask whether trust in the runner was still necessary.
3. Ask who controlled access to the message in each phase.

FOLLOW-UP

5-10 minutes

1. Review that earlier activities showed how messages can be intercepted or altered.
2. Review that encoding allows messages to travel through public space safely.
3. Connect this to the idea of choosing what information is public or private.

CLOSE

5 minutes

1. Collect shared materials and reset the room.
2. Allow students to keep their cipher wheels.
3. Final message to students: “You don’t need to trust everyone when your message is protected.”

NOTES

Classroom management

• Older Students can choose their role in the relay
• Control running paths and enforce walking if needed.
• Emphasize that mistakes are expected and part of learning.

Extensions & Sponge Activities

• Rotate roles and repeat with a new cipher.
• Increase message length or add decoy messages.

Differentiation

• Younger students: single words and fixed letter shift.
• ELL/Accessibility: alphabet charts and slower pacing.
• Safety: clear movement rules and supervised tool use.