The Badge Archive

Pass the Daisy Message

Fulfills Step 3 of GSUSA Daisy Cybersecurity Basics badge requirements.

Info Needed for the badge requirements: A computer by itself cannot talk to other computers, search the internet, or download information. Computers are connected to each other through a computer network. The basic connections are made with wires. A wire can connect one computer to another, and all the communication and information goes through the wire.

Wireless connections are also common. Our voice travels through the air on sound waves we can’t see, but our ears can receive the sound, and we hear what someone else says. Information (or data) is sent through the air on specific waves we can’t see or hear, but a computer can have a receiver that “hears” or detects the information (or data). A wire connection needs a wire connected between computer 1 and computer 2 so they can send and receive data. A wireless connection needs a receiving device in both computer 1 and computer 2 so they can send and receive data.

Items needed

  • VTK Message Bubble by GSUSA (one for each scout)
  • Magazines to choose pictures from
  • Markers or crayons
  • Several different colors of yarn or thick string
  • Hole punch

Instructions

  1. Hand out a Daisy’s Message sheet to each scout. Ask them to write or draw a message for a fellow scout.
  2. Pick one message to start. Fold the page and punch a hole in it so it can slide easily along a piece of yarn or string.
  3. Have scouts sit in a circle, each holding onto the yarn or string. Pass the folded message along the yarn from one scout to the next, as if the string is the path a computer uses to send information.
  4. When the message reaches the last scout, discuss:
    • What was the message?
    • What else can you send online, besides messages? (e.g., photos, drawings).
  5. Scouts cut out a picture from a magazine, fold it, and punch a hole in it.
  6. Choose one scout to place their photo in the middle of the group. Explain that this scout will send their photo to someone else in the circle.
  7. That scout unspools yarn and hands the end to another scout (pretending to send the photo)
  8. Continue the activity by having each new “recipient” send the photo to another scout, creating connections using the yarn. Use different-colored yarn for different photos if time allows. Continue until everyone has sent their photo and the circle fills with crisscrossing yarn connections.
  9. Discuss how the yarn represents computer connections and how information travels between computers. Talk about how stories or pictures shared on a computer can easily be passed to others.
  10. Ask what if you don’t want your photo or message shared? How can you protect it? Encourage ideas like only sharing with people you trust, asking others not to share, or keeping it private by not sending it online at all.
Tia Kennard