Cyberspace and Cybersecurity: Effects

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Learning Objectives

Students will consider the impact and challenges of social media and cryptocurrency.

Length

One 45-minute period

Grade Level

High School

Materials

The Internet by the Numbers

Social Media: Revolutionizing Communication

What Is Cryptocurrency?

China Firewall Test

Guided Reading Handout

Presentation

Homework

Have students complete the guided reading handout in advance of class.

Class

(10 Minutes) Warm Up:
1. Ask: Students to discuss:
2. How their peer group uses social media. What social media services do they use? How do they use them? To post pictures/ videos? As a communication tool? To share location? Etc. What are some of the positive and negative aspects of social media?
3. How their family and/or peer group interacts with money. Do they use cash? If so, how often? What apps do they use to interact with money? Do they use Venmo, PayPal, Apple Pay, Etc? When buying things/ paying for services do they use apps? (Online ordering for food? Uber?)
4. Discuss: As a class, discuss the prevalence of social media in their lives (i.e.: It may be the main source of news and communication). Discuss how students interact with money. Many will likely utilize (or acknowledge) how prevalent “digital money” is in their lives with some rarely touching cash at all.
(15 Minutes) Watch: How Money Works: A Look At Monetary Policy embedded in What Is Cryptocurrency?
1. Discuss: What is cryptocurrency? Do students see value in digital payments or use of cryptocurrency? Why might cryptocurrency be useful in the future? What are some of the potential benefits/ drawbacks?
2. Note: Cryptocurrency is complex but some underlying ideas from Bitcoin are that it is private (one can easily “carry” their own without bank, transparent, accessible, transferable across borders, fungible, finite.
(15 Minutes) Activity: Either as a class or as individuals, create a list of the classes top 10 favorite websites. Remind them that most apps are based off websites (I.E:YouTube, Facebook, Twitter) or are web based (Instagram, TikTok)
1. Have the class (or students) go to this website: China Firewall Test.
2. Enter the class’s top 10 websites to see if they can be accessed in China. (Alternatively, students can be asked to run THEIR top 10 favorite websites through China Firewall Test).
3. Discuss: Discuss students' reactions to some of the most popular websites being blocked in China.Why do they think China chose to block each? Ask for specific reasons - why would YouTube be blocked? Why would social media and Wikipedia be blocked? (Ideally, it would also be great to find and discuss a block site that seems bizarre to block in terms of censorship)
(5 Minutes) Wrap Up/ Discuss: Given your look at social media and digital payment methods, ask students to consider the concept of a “free and open internet.” Introduce the homework questions: Why might it be important for people to have open access to the internet both in the United States and globally? What are some major benefits? What are some potential challenges? Should things like social media and cryptocurrency be regulated? If so, when and why?

Homework

Students should consider the importance of a free and open internet. In a written response, ask students to consider the following: Why might it be important for people to have open access to the internet both in the United States and globally? What are some major benefits? What are some potential challenges? Should things like social media and cryptocurrency be regulated? If so, when and why?
Students should be encouraged to use the internet to assist in their research and provide resources, links, or citations based on your school’s chosen method.

Vocabulary

censorship: withholding of information, typically by a government or an authoritative body.
cyberspace: online virtual universe. Definitions vary, but the term cyberspace generally includes a range of services including online games, instant messaging, and the physical devices used to store information.
Great Firewall: the system of strict censorship and internet regulation enforced by the Chinese government within its borders.
internet service provider: a company that provides internet access to subscribers.
radicalization: the process by which individuals come to adopt extreme religious, political, or social beliefs.
service: a nonphysical good transferred from the seller to the buyer (e.g., haircut, doctor’s appointment).
surveillance: a type of intelligence collection that involves the systematic, and often concealed, observation of people, places, and things by visual, aural, electronic, photographic, or other methods.
Sustainable Development Goals: seventeen global development goals, applicable to all countries, put forth by the United Nations in 2015. Countries seek to meet these wide-ranging goals (from the eradication of poverty to the protection of the planet and universal and affordable internet access) by 2030.