Educator Background Information for Peter Packet Game:
Everything you need to know in less than 400 words...
For the lesson, your students will be transformed into packets or tiny pieces of
information that travel through the Internet. Packets make it possible for you to send
and receive email, browse Websites, etc. Let's consider how an email message might get
from your school computer to a student's home computer. The text and photo you are
sending must be broken up into tiny pieces (or bytes) called packets. The packets
leave your computer not only with their part of the data, but also with an ID number,
the address of your computer, the address of the student's computer, and something
called a checksum.
They travel through your school network to the server, which is, we hope, a
computer protected from viruses by antivirus software and with the ability to add
encryption shields to packets so that they will avoid snooping hackers. If the router
awards packets a Quality of Service (or QOS) designation, they'll be considered
priority items and will move more quickly to their destination.
Routers on the school's network direct the packets onto the Internet, which is
simply a giant network of connected servers, computers, and networks all over the
world. As the packets move along, they encounter other routers that help them find
the quickest and safest path to the student's computer. Packets may travel through
wires or through wireless paths to their destination. If they use wireless routes,
they are given a security key, actually a code, that they'll need before they are
allowed to come through wireless receivers. When the packets reach the student's
computer, they are reassembled into the email and picture you sent. The checksum
information carried by each packet makes sure all packets (parts of your email)
are received.
Most of the time this system works well, but sometimes email won't go through,
you can't get on a Website, you can't download a piece of music, etc. These problems
may be caused by viruses or hackers, but also by congestion on the Internet,
interference (cordless telephones, microwaves, radios) between wireless points
of access, broken wires, repairs to a network, or routers that are not doing of
a good job of sending information through the Internet.
That's about it. Networking 101.
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