Wireless

In this short class activity, students will have a class discussion about Wi-Fi. It should be followed by our Electromagnetic Radiation activity.

This is one of a set of resources developed to aid the class teaching of the secondary national curriculum, particularly KS3. It has been designed to support the delivery of key topics within design and technology (DT) and science.

Introducing Wi-Fi, its properties, and capabilities

For this brief activity, students will discuss as a class two questions from our Wi-Fi Why presentation.

Download our activity overview for a lesson plan on Wi-Fi.

The engineering context

Wi-Fi supports much of modern society, allowing people to communicate, collaborate and share data. Not only does it underpin our entertainment, from steaming music and films to allowing us to surf the internet, it also is vital for much of the private and public sector.

Suggested learning outcomes

Following this lesson, students should be introduced to the idea that the electromagnetic spectrum can be divided into segments and that those segments have different penetrating powers through materials. They will also learn that a ‘window’ for radio communications through the atmosphere exists in the microwave segment. Finally, they’ll understand that information systems use digitally encoded Radio Frequency (RF) transmissions over short distances. i.e. Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) and WLAN (wireless local area network).

Download our activity sheet and other teaching resources

The activity sheet includes teachers’ notes, useful web links, and links (where appropriate) to the national curriculum in each of the four devolved nations; England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

All activity sheets and supporting resources are free to download, and all the documents are fully editable, so you can tailor them to your class’s and your schools’ needs.

You can download our classroom lesson plan below.

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