Curated OER
Cryptogram
In this cryptogram worksheet, students fill out the key to a code and decipher a cryptogram about Abraham Lincoln. Students fill in the missing letters and read the message. The pattern in the key is not obvious.
Curated OER
Matrices: A Secret Weapon
Students perform operations with matrices. In this algebra lesson, students use cryptography and cryptanalysis to solve problems. They add, subtract, and multiply matrices.
Curated OER
Learning to Hate Math
Give your class a different kind of reading assignment with the text included here. Anne Miller's essay "Learning to Hate Mathematics" details a hatred of math that grew from early childhood and still haunts the author today. After...
Curated OER
Energy Resources
In this energy resources worksheet, students complete 12 questions in the format of puzzles, teasers, and twisters. Examples include a modified cryptoquip and pictogram.
Curated OER
Ancient Peoples of the Middle East
This is an excellent multidisciplinary lesson designed by Scientific American. It provides three creative activities--designing a garden, studying hieroglyphics, and writing poetry--relevant to the ancient peoples of the Middle East....
Curated OER
Cryptography and Cryptanalysis
In this cryptography/cryptanalysis activity, students work with a group and use logic and cryptography techniques to solve problems.
Curated OER
SHHH It's a Secret
Students rewrite word problems using expressions and equations. In this algebra lesson, students use the correct variable to solve and write equations. They use the TI to graph their solution.
Curated OER
Secrets and Spies
Students explore the lives of spies. In this secret government agencies lesson, students visit the Imperial War Museum and the Essex Secret Bunker online or in person to discover details about Britain's spies and secret bunker.
Curated OER
Cookie Crisp Howl
Students are introduced to the vowel pattern that produces the /oo/ sound in words. Through matching, listening, and spelling activities, students recognize the phoneme /oo/ and it's placement in words. They write a message using words...
Curated OER
Memorandum Regarding the
Young scholars use the National Archives to research the memorandum regarding the enlistment of Navajo Indians during World War II.
Curated OER
Gray Whales: Hitchhikers: Free Rides on Gray Whales
Students read about Gray Whales and circle any unfamiliar terms.
Curated OER
Does the falling tree make a sound if no one if there to hear it? (or communication via encryption)
Students explore encryption. They discuss the importance of cryptography in our daily lives. Students use games and cryptography to discover transformational geometry and modulo systems. They design their own encryption puzzles and...
PBS
Pbs Nova: Decipher a Coded Message
The basic difference between a code and cipher is explained briefly. You can try to crack a simple cipher at this location.
PBS
Pbs Nova: Send a Coded Message Virtual Enigma
Explore the NOVA's Virtual Enigma machine used during WWII. You can send an encrypted message to a friend along with the special key needed to decipher the message. A link is also included to the Virtual Enigma.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Spy Techniques of the Revolutionary War: Culper Code Book
Using a primary source and transcript students decipher and create historically-accurate spy communications like those used by George Washington and the Culper Spy ring in the American Revolutionary War.
University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge: Nrich: Code Breaker
Do your logic skills need sharpening? Use the interactive code breaker to at this one page website to do just that! The solution is available to double check your solution.
National Institutes of Health
Nih: Deciphering the Genetic Code: Michael Nirenberg
Story of Michael Nirenberg and his colleagues deciphering of DNA.
PBS
Nova: Secrets, Lies, and Atomic Spies
The companion site to the show by the same title. Interesting site allows the reader to decipher a coded message. Information on Venona Intercepts and interviews with children of famous spies.
Education Development Center
Education Development Center: How Does Dna Work?
Learning about transcription and translation can be difficult but this animation helps make the processes less confusing. The animation is interactive and it also covers the overall importance of proteins.
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments: Numb3 Rs: Message of the Bottle
Based off of the hit television show NUMB3RS, this lesson is best used to serve as a preliminary introduction to coding and encryption. Messages are ciphered by single-letter substitution, and the lesson guides students into deciphering...
PBS
Pbs Nova: A Simple Cipher
The difference between a code and cipher is explained. See if you can solve a simple cipher challenge at the bottom of the page.
Shodor Education Foundation
Shodor Interactivate: Spy Game
Learners will learn about modular arithmetic in order to decipher encrypted messages.
Other
Curiosity in the Classroom: Principles of Encryption [Pdf]
In a world where people are sharing information every second online, securing that information is paramount. In this lesson students will understand the principle of encryption, how to decode encryption, and how to construct ciphers. The...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Encryption, Decryption, and Cracking
Julius Caesar encrypted messages two thousand years ago. By knowing the techniques of deciphering a code--frequency analysis, known text, and brute force--one can begin to understand the three key aspects of data encryption, decryption,...