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Safety and Security Online: Grades 4-5

Powerful Passwords

Download Student Sheet(s) for printout in PDF format.

Read a Letter to Educators about Internet safety and security from CyberSmart!

Overview

Students learn the benefits of using passwords and then play a board game to discover some strategies for creating and keeping secure passwords.

Objectives

• Describe the functions of passwords.
• Identify strategies for creating and protecting secure passwords.

ISTE National Educational Technology Standards for Students © 2007

Source: International Society for Technology in Education

2. Communication and Collaboration
   2. communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats.
5. Digital Citizenship
   1. advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology.
   2. exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity.

Home Connection

Download the Home Connection sheet related to this lesson.

Site Preview

An optional strategy for using a Web 2.0 tool called Jigsaw Planet with your students is recommended under Teach 4.

Materials

• Activity Sheets (2)
• counters, dried beans, or other game pieces (1 per student)
• number cubes (1 for every group of two to four students)
• sheets of card stock (1 per student)
• rulers
• scissors

Introduce

• Invite students to share with the class all the online sites they like to visit where passwords are required to enter. Allow them to share some of the activities they most enjoy.
• Ask: How would you feel if someone else used your password and pretended to be you on one of these sites?

Teach 1

• Distribute Activity Sheet 1.
• Have students read and discuss the first two paragraphs. You may wish to add details about how adults use banks and other financial institutions, explaining that they can check their accounts, move money from one account or institution to another, and pay bills online.
• After students read Hard to Put Together, have them answer the question individually or in pairs. NOTE: Postpone discussion until students have played the password game on Activity Sheet 2.

Teach 2

• Distribute Activity Sheet 2 and discuss how to play the game with students.
• Divide the class into small groups and distribute one game piece per student and one number cube per group. Allow students to play, reminding them to pay attention to what they read each time they land on a space with directions.

Teach 3

• Once students have finished the game, have them list dos and don'ts for making powerful passwords. Guide them to include items such as these:
  • Do make passwords eight or more characters long.
  • Don't use your nickname as your password.
  • Do include letters, numbers, and symbols in your password.
  • Do change your password at least every six months.
  • Don't share your password with your friends.
  • Do give your password to your parent or guardian.
  • Don't use private identity information in your password.
  • Don't use your phone number as your password.
  • Don't use dictionary words as your password.
• Have students compare their dos and don'ts list to the answer they wrote on Activity Sheet 1. Ask: Which tips did you know? Which ones surprised you?

Teach 4

• Have students create their own safe powerful password jigsaw puzzles. Give each student a sheet of card stock, a ruler, and a pencil. Have them use the rulers to divide the sheet into nine boxes, marking the divisions lightly in pencil.
• Using the ruled lines as a guide, have students draw nine interlocking puzzle pieces. For guidance, they can refer to the picture of puzzle pieces on Activity Sheet 1.
• Next, have students write one password tip on each puzzle piece.
• Have students cut apart their puzzle pieces and write their name on the back of each piece.
• Allow students to exchange puzzles and try putting them together.
• You many wish to have students take their puzzles home to share with their families, save them for open school nights when parents can play with them, or hang up the individual puzzle pieces around your room as reminders to keep passwords safe and secure.

Have students make password dos and don'ts pictures. Then scan them and convert to jpg files. Upload the images to a Web 2.0 tool called Jigsaw Planet where they will be converted into jigsaw puzzles. By using this site, students can put their puzzles together online and share them with other students and their families.

Assess

The following items assess student mastery of the lesson objectives.

• Ask: What do passwords do? How are they helpful? (They stop other people from pretending to be you and from seeing or using your private stuff on your computer and online.)
• Ask: What are some dos and don'ts to remember about powerful passwords?

Extend

• Students will benefit by revisiting this lesson each year.
• For students who completed this lesson in a previous grade, show them how to create a password that is both hard to guess and relatively easy to remember. Suggest that they write down the name of a nursery rhyme or a memorable line from a favorite song. Then have them use the first letter of most words and change the spelling (for example, changing “the” to “da”) of other words. Next try to replace some of the letters with a number or symbol. Then make some letters uppercase and other lowercase. For example, “Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf” could become lRRh&daBBwf. Remind students not to use the example the class just learned as their real password.

Cyber Safety and Security Awareness Activities for Your School, Families, and Community

Extend this classroom lesson with activities that will support a cyber safety and security awareness campaign for your school, families, and community.

includes strategies for using interactive online Web 2.0 tools.

CyberSmart! Online Workshops

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