GoalDraw a network that fits a job and find networks around me.
New words
plan · a drawing or list that shows what to do before you buildlink · a line that shows two devices are connectedshared · used by more than one person or deviceneighbourhood · the streets and buildings around your home
Explanation
Engineers draw before they build. A network plan is a drawing with boxes for devices and lines for links. Use a solid line for a cable and a dashed line for Wi-Fi. Start from the internet at the top and go down: modem, router, switch, then the devices. Ask what the network is for. A classroom needs several computers and one shared printer. A sports club may need a computer in the office and tablets for coaches. Two houses that want to share a printer need a link between them: a cable or a wireless link, and a router in each. Then look around your neighbourhood. A shop uses a network to link its tills to a stockroom computer. A library links its catalogue computers. A school links its classrooms. Networks are everywhere, even when you cannot see the cables.
internet→modem→router→switch→devices
Worked examples
Plan for a classroom: three computers and one printer share a switch. Everything needs a cable because the computers do not move.
Two neighbours, Karim and Malak, want to share one printer. Karim’s router and Malak’s router are linked by a wireless link. Malak’s computer can send its pages to the printer next door.
A small shop has a till and a stockroom computer. Both are linked to one switch, so when the till sells an item, the stockroom computer knows it.
Class activity
Neighbourhood walk (or from your window, with a grown-up). Find three places that use a network, for example a shop, a library and a school. For each, draw a small box-and-arrow plan. Do not take photographs of people. Show your drawings to the class.
Practice
1
In a network plan, which kind of line shows Wi-Fi?
A dashed line.
2
Put these in order from the top: switch, internet, modem, router.
internet, modem, router, switch.
3
Look at the plan. How many computers share the switch?
Three.
4
Name one place near your home that uses a network and say what it shares.
Answers differ, for example: a school shares a printer and the internet.
