The shape of the lesson
By the end of the lesson, learners can
- Internet or web?: Think of the internet as the road network and the web as one kind of traffic that uses the roads.
- What a URL is: Every web server has a numeric IP address, but people cannot easily remember numbers like 93.184.216.34.
- Why use names?: A URL is for people; computers on the internet are found by IP address.
- Internet: the infrastructure, a global network of interconnected networks (hardware).
- World wide web: the collection of websites and web pages accessed using the internet.
- URL: a text-based address for a web page.
- URL parts: protocol, domain name, web page / file name.
One picture every idea returns to
The internet is the infrastructure: a worldwide network of interconnected networks, made of computers, routers, cables and wireless links. The world wide web (WWW) is the collection of websites and web pages that are accessed using the internet. A uniform resource locator (URL) is a text-based address for a web page; it can contain the protocol, the domain name and the web page or file name.
Forty-five minutes, phase by phase
| Time | Phase | What happens in the room | Grouping |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 to 5 min | Hook: predict | Open with the question in the title, Roads and traffic.. People say "the internet" and "the web" as if they were the same thing. Put the figure on the board: it is the one picture every idea in the lesson returns to. | Whole class, then pairs |
| 5 to 13 min | Teach and check: Internet or web? | Think of the internet as the road network and the web as one kind of traffic that uses the roads. | Whole class, then pairs |
| 13 to 21 min | Teach and check: What a URL is | Every web server has a numeric IP address, but people cannot easily remember numbers like 93.184.216.34. Project tab 1 of the lab (The parts of a URL) and let a student drive it while the class predicts. Model the worked example Split a URL on the board, one line at a time. Your turn: In the URL http://news.example.co.uk/world/today.html, what is the domain name? | Pairs |
| 21 to 30 min | Teach and check: Why use names? | A URL is for people; computers on the internet are found by IP address. | Mix-Pair-Share |
| 30 to 36 min | Check | The four Stage 1 questions from the student lesson, answered on mini whiteboards or by show of fingers. Re-teach the one most get wrong. | Individual, then whole class |
| 36 to 43 min | Plenary | The exam-style questions from Stage 2, one at a time: thirty seconds alone, then a random call. The feedback lines in the key give the examiner's wording. | Individual, random call |
| 43 to 45 min | Exit and homework | Set the worksheet below (6 questions, 12 marks). Learners self-assess against the objectives before they leave. | Individual |
Protect the parts that carry the learning
The sequence carries about fifty minutes of material, so the lab is driven by one student while the class predicts rather than explored freely. Times are a guide.
Protected: the check at 30 minutes. It is the only individual read on whether the key idea landed, and it is not cut.
Cut first if the build overruns: the last check in Why use names?, never the check or the plenary.
In a 60 minute block: run worksheet questions 1 to 3 in class as a Rally Coach set and model both the hardest worked example and its check live.
Mix-Pair-Share
Students mix around the room until you call pair; they pair with the nearest classmate, discuss the prompt, then mix again. Three prompts of rising difficulty, three different partners.
The full structure, with its variations and the other twelve, is on the cooperative-learning page.
What to head off, and how
| Trap learners fall into | Teaching move that pre-empts it |
|---|---|
| "The web is the internet" or "the internet is a website" earns nothing. | Use the key words: the internet is the infrastructure; the web is the collection of web pages accessed using the internet. |
| A URL is not the same as an IP address. | A URL is text-based; the IP address is the numeric address of the server, found using the DNS. |
The internet, the world wide web and URLs: worksheet
6 questions, 12 marks. Written in the style of the papers; no past paper question is reproduced.
Explain the difference between the internet and the world wide web.
State what is meant by a uniform resource locator (URL).
A school website has the URL https://www.northfield.sch.uk/clubs/chess.html. Identify the protocol, the domain name and the web page file name.
Give two reasons why websites are given URLs rather than users typing in the IP address of the web server.
A student says: "When my internet connection stops working, the world wide web has stopped working." Explain why this statement is not accurate.
Identify two services, other than the world wide web, that use the internet.
Answer key and marking notes
- The internet is the infrastructure: a global network of interconnected networks / computers.
- The world wide web is the collection of websites and web pages that are accessed using the internet.
A text-based address for a web page (or file) on the internet.
- Protocol: https.
- Domain name: www.northfield.sch.uk.
- Web page / file name: /clubs/chess.html (or chess.html).
- A text-based URL / domain name is easier for people to remember and type than a numeric IP address.
- The website can move to a server with a new IP address without the URL changing (and the URL can point to a specific page).
- Only the student's connection to the internet (the infrastructure) has failed; the world wide web still exists and other users can still access it.
- The web is only the websites and web pages; it is the student's access to the internet that is lost (so other internet services such as email also stop).
- Email.
- Any one other: video calling / VoIP, online gaming, file transfer (FTP), instant messaging.
6 multiple-choice questions on this lesson
From the topic question bank. Assign them in the app for a marked score in your gradebook, or run the topic as a class game.
Which statement correctly describes the internet?
- AThe infrastructure: a global network of interconnected networks
- BThe collection of websites and web pages
- CThe application used to render and display web pages
- DA text-based address that identifies one web page
In the URL https://www.lakeside-library.org/books/search.html, which part is the domain name?
- Awww.lakeside-library.org
- Bhttps
- C/books/search.html
- Dlakeside-library
Which part of the URL http://shop.example.co.uk/sale/shoes.html is the web page / file name?
- A/sale/shoes.html
- Bshop.example.co.uk
- Chttp
- D.co.uk
Which of these uses the internet but is not part of the world wide web?
- AMaking a video call in a calling app
- BReading a page on a news website
- CSearching for a recipe on a cooking website
- DOpening a school's home page from its URL
Why do websites have URLs rather than users typing the IP address of the web server?
- AA text-based address is easier to remember, and it can stay the same if the server's IP address changes
- BRouters can deliver data to a URL faster than to an IP address
- CA URL encrypts the address of the web server so it cannot be intercepted
- DWeb servers do not have IP addresses, so they can only be found by URL
A student's home broadband stops working. The student says: "The world wide web has stopped working." Which is the most accurate description?
- AThe student's connection to the internet has failed; the web still exists and others can still use it
- BThe world wide web has stopped working, but the internet is unaffected
- CThe internet and the world wide web have both shut down everywhere
- DOnly the student's web browser has failed, so other internet services still work at home
Quiz key
The internet is the infrastructure of computers, routers, cables and wireless links that connects networks worldwide. The collection of websites and pages is the world wide web, the application that displays pages is a web browser, and a text-based address for a page is a URL.
The domain name, www.lakeside-library.org, identifies the web server. https is the protocol and /books/search.html is the path and file name of the page. lakeside-library on its own is incomplete: the full domain name includes www and the top-level domain .org.
Everything after the domain name, /sale/shoes.html, is the path and file name of the page. shop.example.co.uk is the domain name, http is the protocol, and .co.uk is only the end of the domain name (the top-level domain).
A video call travels over the internet but is not a web page, so it is not part of the web (email and online gaming are similar). Reading a news page, browsing a cooking website and opening a school's home page all involve web pages, so they are uses of the world wide web.
A domain name in a URL is much easier for a person to remember and type, and if the site moves to a server with a new IP address the URL can stay the same. Routers deliver data using IP addresses, not URLs, so a URL is not faster. A URL does not encrypt anything; that is the job of SSL/TLS. Every web server has an IP address, which the DNS looks up from the domain name.
The web is the collection of web pages held on servers around the world; it carries on existing. What has failed is the student's access to the internet infrastructure, so other services such as email will also fail at home. The web has not stopped, nothing has shut down globally, and a broken broadband link is not a browser fault.
What to project
The student lesson embeds these tabs. Open them full screen on the projector; every slider has a drag handle on the stage.
Slides for this lesson
A projectable deck for every pack is on the way. Until then, present the student lesson full screen: its sections, figure and lab tabs follow the same order as the plan above.