Encoding - Mary Queen of Scots

Overview

Codes have been used throughout history to keep messages secret. One famous example is Mary Queen of Scots. Students will learn about this famous code, use it to encode and decode messages, and finally create their own secret code using modern symbols (emojis).

Purpose

Swapping letters or words for a symbol is one of the oldest methods of hiding information. Sometimes letters are swapped for well-known standards for the purpose of transmitting (Morse code/Telegraph, ASCII - Binary/Computers) while other times the encoding is designed to keep the message secret.

This activity will begin to build the idea of changing a message in order to send it.

Objectives

Students will be able to:

• Encode a message using a defined code.
• Decode a message using a defined code.
• Create a new code and use it to communicate.

Preparation

• Print the Symbol Cipher worksheet

Links

• For the Teacher

• For the Students

  • Codemoji

Vocabulary

Teaching Guide

Getting Started

Discuss how encoding is used to swap a letter for another symbol. Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_htopuN4pCk

Activity

Symbol Cipher Worksheet Have students work in pairs on the worksheet. Students will encode a message using the cipher used by Mary Queen of Scots

After encoding a message, they will swap with another group to decode their message.

Finally, students will create their own modern take on the cipher using emojis to replace letters or words. As before, they will encode a message and swap with another group to decode a message.

Wrap-up

Discussion: If two people want to communicate secretly, what do they need?

Mary used a hollow bung in beer kegs to transport her messages. Hiding in the open where people won’t think to look is called Steganography. What are methods you could use to send messages like this in your life?

What about digitally? Are there ways you could send these messages in the open where people wouldn’t think to look in a digital form?

Assessment Questions

• If you did not have a key, how could you begin to decode these a message encoded using a key like this?
• In a text document, I can change the font to WingDings or another symbol font.
• Is this a secure way of hiding information?
  • Why/why not?

Extended Learning

Read Chapter 1 of “The Code Book” - Mary Queen of Scots

Based on reading of chapter 1 from the Code Book and our work with ciphers in class, answer the following questions.

Please state your answer as a blog post and support your points with references to the book, events that happened, and images as needed.

How have ciphers been used? What is the purpose of cryptography? How has the advent of cryptography changed the course of history? Cite specific instances where better cryptography might have changed events and how.

Standards Alignment

License

Cyber Security Curriculum is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.