For the past two weeks we were assigned by our teacher to start playing a game that is based on ancient Cryptography. Basically Cryptography is a technique to convert readable messages into a combination of letters or numbers that at first look it seems that it doesn´t make sense but by knowing how to use the right methods in the right way it can be figured out what is written in the original message. So the game that I was talking about at the start was based on this idea of the decryption of messages but to make it more fun they added a story-line.
In the last couple of sessions of computing we have been working with Khan Academy on some new topics, that are very interesting. Basically, what we have done so far was get busy with Ancient Cryptography. What we were assigned to do, was to watch a series of videos regarding this topic, as to be able to gain some experience about it. The videos showed a couple of different ways of decryption, as well as explaining the basics of encrypted messages. Moreover we learned about defining skills and what they are useful for. So, what we are going to be writing about in this post is our experience regarding decryption, as well as showcasing some concepts we learned along the road.
Here´s a video that serves as a simple explanation about basic Cryptography:
Since 2 weeks we are working on a new project in Khan Academy. This new topic it's about Cryptography. Cryptography is an art or technique that was used by generals/sargents over the years to carry messages in code without the enemy to discover them. In our case we are not in a war but for some reason this person write this encrypted message. There is an issue that we have to solve. However this woudn't be easy, because all the cleu's that we found are encrypted in different ways.
That´s why for solving this encrypted messages we have to use the Caesar Cipher an the Polyalphabetic/Vigenére Cipher.
For learning what the different Ciphers are and what are they for, we saw some videos that Khan Academy provide in his webpage.
This are the two sources we used for learning about encryption so far:
The challenge is divided into four parts. The first of all is theDiscovery, in there you see an object tossed out of a speeding car, and you get intrigued about it. Then you realize that is a bag, you are curious, so you check out what is in there, you find a camera, a card of a hotel, and notes written in a weird form. At the end of this post says that you go to your home and there you heard on the radio that two thieves have stolen a bag if you found it they give you a recompense. The second part is the clue #1, in this one you go where the Hotel is, and you discover that there works a friend. Your friend tells you that this room has been checked for the past three days, so he gives you a key copy, you start your researching in the wastebasket, where you find a note in this weird code. The third part is clue #2, before leaving the room, you notice something else, on the table lays a white paper, but wait! There is a code, where you should use a trick. The dusk is approaching so you leave. For the clue #3, we need the information that is written in the past two clues, so we can't explain this one.
So, our main problem was to discover what the text means, because of how it was written. We did not have the knowledge to solve it, but we had the tools to do it, So instead of giving up we watched the videos recommended in Khan Academy and followed the instructions. Which was not easy at first, but with patience and help from other people, we achieve the understanding of the encrypted message. This is a common problem in our life, since many times we face the incomprehension of words, sentences or the whole text. Therefore we should learn how to manage this problem by our own.From the clue´s we solved, we extracted these three concepts. The content that is written below helped us to understand and learn what was asked back in Khan Academy. Here is an image for a better understanding:
The last few days we have been working with Kahn academy in which we must decipher a coded messege. The messege was imposible to read if you dont have the algorithm to translate it in normal language (english in this case). The first clue was written in cesar cipher wich he used it at world to give secret positions to the allies and prevent that the enemy discover secret information in case the messege was stollen. The cesar chiper was unknow until a mathematician discover seeing that in the english language the letter "e" was the most used.
On the last 2 weeks we have been working on a Khan Academy game. In this game what we have to do is decode encrypted messages, it has been very difficult because we need to discover the way that the words are encrypted, we wrote all the information that we found out during the game on a sheat of paper, we couldn't solve any Clue yet. The first Clue was in the discover, it was a paper written with a coded text with lines, this lines are like clock hands but we don't know yet.The second Clue was in Clue#1, it was a paper too but it was written with normal letters but the text doesn't make any sense, so we have to figure out what does it mean. To discover this clues, we are using the Caesar Cipher, that is explained in the next Concept.
Last weeks we have been working on this educational organitation called "Khan Academy". We can select the subject that we want to know more about. We had worked on a project called "The hour of code". In this project we need to work on some challenges,watch some videos and do three very important projects.The video are to explain some topics than we will later apply in the challenges. After finishing all the challenges and watching all the videos at the end there are 3 main projects that we need to complete so that we can achieve the mission.
To do a good project, you need to do some practice, they are called challenges. For example before the first project you have to do 3 challenges.
Like you see over there you win points for finishing the challenge, it´s very easy and you learn a lot.
We have made 3 project, the one that I like most is the one of the snowman, because it was the best one that I did. It has a lot of commands of coloring and shapes.
