POGIL Activities

Guided-inquiry activities for every day of camp. Work in a team of 3 to 4, or on your own. Read each Model, then answer the Critical Thinking Questions in order before peeking at the hints.

Guided-inquiry activities by day

POGIL (Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning) activities let a small team discover a concept by working through Models and Critical Thinking Questions together, instead of being told the answer. There is at least one for each day; Day 3 has two.

• Day 1: Reading Code and the Terminal - trace variables and loops, then read a terminal session and extract the key facts.
• Day 2: Strong Passwords and Keyspace - keyspace as N to the power L, why length beats complexity, and how MFA helps.
• Day 3: Symmetric Encryption - one shared key, why secrecy lives in the key, and key space from Caesar to AES.
• Day 3: Perfect Secrecy and the One-Time Pad - XOR encryption, the three requirements of a one-time pad, and why reuse breaks it.
• Day 4: Trusting Input: Web and AI - read a URL, see why SQL injection works and how parameterized queries fix it, and meet prompt injection.
• Day 5: Capture the Flag and OSINT Ethics - reverse a two-step flag, read photo metadata, and apply the permission rule.

Blank POGIL template - copy it to author new activities in this layout.

These are original activities written for CyberQuest in the POGIL inquiry style. Print them or work through them on screen; reveal the hints only after your team agrees on an answer.