Question Sheet: Internet Generation

By Science News Explores

SCIENCE

Before reading:

  1. How do you use the Internet? 

  2. How is your use of the Internet different from the way your parents use the

    Internet?

During reading:

  1. Justine Cassell says, “It’s impossible to answer that question because the

    Internet is so many things.” Explain what she means. 

  2. What did the U.S. Congress do in 2000 to help protect children when they use

    the Internet? 

  3. Why do people think that teen chat rooms can be dangerous? 

  4. What impressions do very young children typically have about how the

    Internet works? 

  5. What was the “Junior Summit,” and how did it work? 

  6. Why does understanding how the Internet works help to protect children from

    its dangers?

After reading:

  1. “Every era of childhood is both different from the previous one and also

    fundamentally the same.” What does this quote mean? Do you agree or disagree

    with it? Explain your response. 

  2. Do you really understand how the Internet works? Take a few minutes to

    follow the links listed at the end of the article about the Internet, then write

    your own summary of what you learned. See computer.howstuffworks.com/internet-infrastructure.htm (How

    Stuff Works), www.tinhat.com/internet_basics/how_the_internet_works.html

    (TinHat), www.internet101.org/ (Scott Cottingham), and www.exn.ca/Nerds/internet.cfm(Discovery Channel Canada). 

  3. Make a prediction about how you think the next generation of kids (your own

    children) will use the Internet. What do you think will stay the same and what

    will seem outdated? 

  4. Do you think that the concerns of adults about Internet safety are sensible

    or extreme? Compare and contrast the two opposing views. 

  5. Name several ways in which the Internet has helped you or been useful to

    you. What difference, if any, has it made in your life?

SOCIAL STUDIES

Should the U.S. government censor the Internet to protect kids? Why might freedom of information be not only important but also risky? Which countries around the world have attempted to censor or control access to the Internet? Why? See www.epic.org/free_speech/censorship/ (Electronic Privacy Information Center) and www.isoc.org/inet2000/cdproceedings/8k/8k_4.htm (INET 2000).

LANGUAGE ARTS

  1. Design and illustrate a picture book that explains to young children how the

    Internet works. 

  2. Interview someone who grew up not using the Internet. Come up with 10

    questions to ask them about how computers and the way they are used have changed or not changed childhood.

MATHEMATICS

In this magic trick, you start with two numbers, one even and the other odd, written on separate, identical pieces of paper. Ask one person from the audience to secretly select one of them, and give the other piece of paper to someone else. Your goal is to figure out whether the first person selected an odd or even number.

Here’s what you do. Ask the first person to multiply his or her number by 2 (or any even number). Ask the second person to multiply his or her number by 3 (or any odd number). Ask the two people to add together the two products and tell you the final answer.

If the sum is even, then the first person originally picked the odd number. But if the sum is odd, the first person picked the even number.

Explain why this trick works.