How The Internet Works

Teaching students about how the internet works is a challenging and important task that computer science teachers will face in the classroom. It is important that students have a sturdy foundation and understanding of the background and functions of the internet. Below are key terms that are necessary in understanding the basics of how the internet works.

Protocol: This is the rules and standards that exist which allow computers to communicate.
http: This stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol. This is how computers get information from each other.
url: This stands for Uniform Resource Locator. It is the web address you type into a browser to reach a website. Every website has a URL.
isp: This stands for Internet Service Provider. It is the company that allows you access to the internet and other web services. They provide different ways to connect including dial-up, cable, fiber optics or Wi-Fi. These different connections determine the speed of you internet access.
ftp: This stands for File Transfer Protocol. This is a standard network protocol that is used to transfer files between a client and a server.
ip: This stands for Internet Protocol. Every URL also has an IP address. This is a series of numbers that tells your computer where to find the information you're looking for.
DNS: This stands for Domain Name System. This is the phone book for the Web. DNS translates a URL into an IP address, taking you to the site you are looking for.
Server and Client: A server is a computer that "serves" many different computers in a network by running specialized software and storing information. A client runs familiar software such as web browsers or email software, and it communicates with the server to get the information it requires. When you access a webpage, your computer is acting as a client.

There are so many different strategies that can be used to teach students about the internet. The internet can be taught to students ranging in ages anywhere from the elementary level of education all the way to college and beyond.
When teaching students who are at the elementary level I would definitely utilize code.org. I would make sure to have a good balance between unplugged activities and hands on computational learning. I would introduce the topic how the internet works first by explaining the history of the internet and how it has evolved over history. I would introduce concepts like html and http at first as abstract concepts and then eventually relate it back to how it ties in with the internet. When I was learning how the internet works in my W210 class, our teacher actually had the students act out the different parts that go into requesting information when using the internet. Different students played different roles like the server and client. I think that this is a fantastic way for students to learn these hard concepts of how the internet works because they can actually see in front of them what is going on virtually inside the computer. Once their understanding of how the internet works is solidified I would introduce code.org and some of the unplugged activities. Code.org provides great hands on games and worksheets that allow students to think of the internet beyond their computer screen and more as broad concepts that they can relate to their everyday life. When I was learning about the internet and coding I skipped the first four levels of code.org but I believe that elementary students could greatly benefit from these beginner levels that would ease them into the more challenging material. These resources that I have been exposed to, I believe, are great strategies to teach students and get them excited about the internet and computer science!