What is the Internet? How does it work?
In technology class, fourth graders learned about what the Internet is (a network of computers connected to each other) and how the Internet works. After thinking about what we already know about the Internet, students watched a BrainPop video to learn about the specifics of the Internet.
One of the coolest facts the students discovered during our classes was that you can go to a website simply by typing in its IP address! Try this one: 208.99.177.171
Students learned many new terms. Here are some examples of the terms we discussed in class (from www.brainpop.com and www.code.org):
IP (Internet Protocol) Address鈥擜 number assigned to any item that is connected to the Internet
ISP (Internet Service Provider)鈥擟ompanies that provide internet service to users for a monthly fee
DNS (Domain Name Service)鈥擳he service that translates URLs to IP addresses
URL (Universal Resource Locator)鈥擜n easy-to-remember address for calling a web page
Internet鈥擜 group of computers and servers that are networked together
Network鈥擜 group of things that are connected to each other
Packets鈥擲mall chunks of information that have been carefully formed from larger chunks of information
Servers鈥擟omputers that exist only to provide information to others
Clients鈥擟omputers that go to servers for information
Fiber-Optic Cable鈥擜 cable that uses light to send information (often shortened to 鈥渇iber鈥�)
Wi-Fi鈥擜 wireless method of sending information using radio waves
After the video, students engaged in a fun-filled Internet race of their own! They broke down messages into packets, delivered individual packets either by wireless or fiber optics to the server, put the packets back into comprehensible messages, and discovered that both methods of sending information over the Internet have their own strengths and weaknesses!
Here is a student-filmed video (Thanks Aly!) using one of our iPads of 4B students in the race to deliver the message. Students had so much fun that a group of 4A students even suggested making a commercial to show how fiber optics is a much better way to go online than wireless (unless you have to be mobile)! Enjoy!