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From the Internet to Outer Space
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In this activity, learners will use Google Sky to observe features of the night sky and share their observations.
Public Key Encryption: Kid Krypto
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In this activity, learners conduct a simulation exercise related to public key encryption and try to intercept a message sent between two learners.
Battleships: Searching Algorithms
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This activity explores the main algorithms that are used as the basis for searching on computers, using different variations on the game of battleships.
Tiny Particles, Big Trouble!
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In this activity, learners discover why some nanoscale science and technology is done in the controlled environment of a clean room, what clean rooms are like, and how scientists help keep the clean r
Twenty Guesses: Information Theory
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This activity introduces the idea that computer scientists measure information by how "surprising" a message is.
Space Weather Action Center
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In this interdisciplinary activity, learners create a Space Weather Action Center (SWAC) to monitor solar storms and develop real SWAC news reports.
Programming Languages: Harold the Robot
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In this activity related to computer programming, learners give directions to a "robot" (either an adult or another learner) and find out which instructions the robot is able to follow, and how their
Divide and Conquer: Santa's Dirty Socks
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This activity introduces the idea of "divide and conquer" using a fictitious but serious problem--a pair of dirty socks has accidentally been wrapped in one of the presents that Santa is about to deli
Destination Tidepool
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In this activity (page 7 of pdf), learners research tide pool ecosystems, and then create brochures that "advertise" these environments.
Colour by Numbers: Image Representation
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This activity shows learners how computers use numbers to represent pictures. A grid is used to represent the pixels (short for picture elements) of a computer screen.
Passion for Pixels
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In this technology activity, learners explore digital imaging and pixels. Learners "transmit" an image to a partner by creating an image on grid paper.
You Can Say That Again!: Text Compression
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This activity helps students learn how computers "compress" text by identifying repeating patterns of letters, words, and phrases.
Sound Representation: Modems Unplugged
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In this activity, learners listen to songs and decode hidden messages based on the same principle as a modem. As a final challenge, learners decode the binary messages in a music video.
EEEEK--A Mouse!
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In this activity, learners explore the concept of how engineering solved the problem of human/computer interface.
Card Flip Magic: Error Detection & Correction
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This magic trick is based on how computers detect and correct data errors.
The Muddy City: Minimal Spanning Trees
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In this puzzle, learners investigate the decisions involved in linking a network between houses in a muddy city.
Forward Thinking
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In this activity, learners create their own weather forecast map.
Phylogenetics
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This activity lets learners participate in the process of reconstructing a phylogenetic tree and introduces them to several core bioinformatics concepts, particularly in relation to evolution.
The Turing Test: Conversations with Computers
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This activity aims to stimulate discussion on the question of whether computers can exhibit “intelligence,” or are ever likely to do so in the future.
Cryptographic Protocols: The Peruvian Coin Flip
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This activity about cryptographic techniques illustrates how to accomplish a simple, but nevertheless seemingly impossible task—making a fair, random choice by flipping a coin between two people who d