Making a strong but memorable password is necessary in today's world. We have not totally converted to the fingerprint or eye scan method to access our devices even though that is on the horizon. For now we must slug through the effort of creating a password that has meaning for us while not being easy for someone else or a computer to guess.

A simple game of hangman can help teach students why that is important. Today our class had guest

speaker Patrick Ward who is a cryptologist at Chattanooga State College in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He talked to the class about this method and we spent a fun time exploring this concept. Along the way we "discovered" the concept of letter frequency and common letter combinations to make the discovery of solutions easier.

To add to the fun we used both boards and also a timer displayed on the classroom TV. The one I like to use in class is the free tool Classroom Screen located online at https://classroomscreen.com. The use of the timer added to the excitement and the need to think quickly.

#cryptology #middleschool #password

#computerscience @ClassroomScreen #classroomscreen #digitialcitizenship