Lessons summary
In this series of 3 lessons aimed at pupils in the first year of secondary school, students learn about cryptography and undertaking practical unplugged activities to develop their logical reasoning and problem-solving skills.
They write algorithms for a Caesar cipher and are introduced to writing Caesar ciphers in text-based programming using JavaScript and Python.
This unit forms the second part of the cyber security unit, though it can be used on its own and can be a good introduction to text-based programming, or a way to extend existing knowledge.
The lesson sequence comprises 3 lessons of approx. 60 minutes:
- Introducing cryptography today and in history (World War Two)
- Caesar cipher algorithms unplugged activity
- Creating Caesar cipher programs with text-based programming
Learning objectives
- can understand and apply the fundamental principles & concepts of computer science (logic, abstraction, algorithms, real world problem analysis and problem solving).
- practical experience of writing computer programs to solve problems.
- are responsible, competent, confident and creative users of information and communication technology.
Additional skills
Problem-solving, collaboration, critical thinking, creative thinking, prototyping, presenting, researching.
You will need
Downloadable resources:
- Lesson plan
- Lesson slides
- Student handouts
- HEX files
Other resources:
- card
- paper - large sheets
- paper - rough
- paper fasteners / split pins
- pens
- scissors
- student work from previous lesson
Lessons created in partnership with Nominet
This content is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) licence.