Math Project: Codes and Ciphers

EDCP 342A “Math Projects” Assignment

Names: Hong Jiang, Howard Hu, Esther Yang

Grade level: Any level in high school (grade 8-12)

Purpose: The purpose is to encourage students to be creative, arouse interests, and promote analytical skills.

Original project tasks:

1. Read description of your chosen code and work to make sense of it.

2. Research more information about your code from at least 2 other resources.

3. Make a poster and teach us about your code.

4. Prepare a 5 minute presentation, include a puzzle for the class to work on as homework.

5. Take notes on other people's presentations, there will be a question on the next test about codes.

Sources: Students can use these suggest and/or other books and Internet sources on codes:

 Martin Gardner (1972). Codes, ciphers and secret writing. NY: Simon & Schuster, (J652.8 G22c)

 Fred Wrixon (1992). codes and ciphers. NY: Prentice Hall. (BUS 652.8 W95c)

Handouts, graphics, etc.

Example:

Handout #1: The Keyword cipher: substituting part of the alphabet with a keyword

To create a substitution alphabet from a keyword, first write down the alphabet. 

Then write down the keyword below the alphabet, followed by the remaining

unused letters of the alphabet.

To create a secret message, convert all letters from the top row to their corresponding letter on the bottom row.

These types of simple substitution ciphers can be easily cracked by using frequency analysis and some educated guessing.

Keyword: orange

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(might not be a good one since the last part of the alphabet has not been changed)

Keyword: zhujiang

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Try this:

Encipher this massage: vizpiuzsngrgiem

Benefits of this project:
We have found that the original project would be a great opportunity for students to explore new and interesting mathematical things, and it would be a fun project for students to try and hopefully spark some curiosity about mathematics. Through research students would realize that mathematics is not all about numbers and calculations. We think that this project would be a good way to introduce different branches in mathematics. Also, this group project will help students to develop skills in research, presentation, communication, and teamwork.

Weaknesses of this project:

The topic is a bit advanced for some grades, and some students may find it too complicated to understand some coding methods. Since every group is doing a poster presentation, it may become too routine and boring. Also, it is often times difficult for students to take notes while listening to presentations and retain information for the test question about the presentations.

Modified Project:

Grade level: Any level in high school (grade 8-12)

Purpose: The purpose is to encourage students to be creative, arouse interests, and promote analytical skills.

Sources: Students can use these suggest and/or other books and Internet sources on codes:

 Martin Gardner (1972). Codes, ciphers and secret writing. NY: Simon & Schuster, (J652.8 G22c)

 Fred Wrixon (1992). codes and ciphers. NY: Prentice Hall. (BUS 652.8 W95c)

Modified Project tasks:

Project Format (5-7 minutes long): Video or Skit

Theme: History of the code and how to use the code OR Creative presentation incorporating the code somehow

Project Requirements: Use of props, everyone must have equal act/talk time in the presentation (thus, everyone MUST participate), explanation of how the code works

Benefits: Practice public speaking, boost of confidence, memorable experience to refer to for the test question, incorporating something different into a math classroom

Marking criteria:

Rubric for the presentation (skit or video)

	5	4	3	2	1
Organization and preparation
Creative approach of presentation
Use of props effectively
Clarity and Relativity of Presentation
Ability to answer questions from audience