AWS Data Center Tour 1:
Uncovering Cloud Computing

On the Uncovering Cloud Computing tour, students will discover how the cloud and data centers enable them to stream movies from anywhere at anytime. They’ll learn the components of a computer, a high-level overview of the cloud, how data moves through fiber optic cables, and protocols let data know where to go! Along the way, they’ll meet a hardware engineer, a data center operator (DCO), a fiber splicer, and a network engineer.

To learn more, visit https://www.amazonfutureengineer.com/datacentertoolkit and download the student learnings docs for each tour.

Uncovering Cloud Computing is aligned to the following CSTA standards.

• 1B-IC-18 Discuss computing technologies that have changed the world, and express how those technologies influence, and are influenced by, cultural practices.
• 1B-CS-01 Describe how internal and external parts of computing devices function to form a system.
• 1B-CS-02 Model how computer hardware and software work together as a system to accomplish tasks.
• 2-CS-02 Design projects that combine hardware and software components to collect and exchange data. Collecting and exchanging data involves input, output, storage, and processing.
• 2-IC-20 Compare tradeoffs associated with computing technologies that affect people’s everyday activities and career options.
• 2-NI-04 Model the role of protocols in transmitting data across networks and the Internet.
• 3A-CS-02 Compare levels of abstraction and interactions between application software, system software, and hardware layers.
• 3A-NI-04 Evaluate the scalability and reliability of networks, by describing the relationship between routers, switches, servers, topology, and addressing.

The tour is aligned to the following disciplinary core ideas, crosscutting concepts, and science and engineering practices.

• Crosscutting Concept: Cause and Effect Events have causes, sometimes simple, sometimes multifaceted.
• Crosscutting Concept: Systems and System Models A system is an organized group of related objects or components; models can be used for understanding and predicting the behavior of systems.
• Crosscutting Concept: Scale, Proportion, and Quantity In considering phenomena, it is critical to recognize what is relevant at different size, time, and energy scales, and to recognize proportional relationships between different quantities as scales change.
• Crosscutting Concept: Energy and Matter Tracking energy and matter flows, into, out of, and within systems helps one understand their system’s behavior.
• 4-PS3-2 Energy Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.
• 4-PS4-3 Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer Generate and compare multiple solutions that use patterns to transfer information.
• MS-PS4-2 Waves and their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer, develop, and use a model to describe that waves are reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through various materials.
• MS-PS4-3 Waves and their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer Integrate qualitative scientific and technical information to support the claim that digitized signals are a more reliable way to encode and transmit information than analog signals.
• HS-PS3-3 Energy Design, build, and refine a device that works within given constraints to convert one form of energy into another form of energy.
• HS-PS4-2 Waves and their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer Evaluate questions about the advantages of using digital transmission and storage of information.
• HS-PS4-5 Waves and their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer Communicate technical information about how some technological devices use the principles of wave behavior and wave interactions with matter to transmit and capture information and energy.
• HS-ETS1-3 Engineering Design Evaluate a solution to a complex real-world problem based on prioritized criteria and trade-offs that account for a range of constraints, including cost, safety, reliability, and aesthetics as well as possible social, cultural, and environmental impacts.

The tour, and all materials included in the accompanying Teacher Toolkit, are provided to teachers at no cost. You do not need a paid Kahoot! account to take the tour - sign up for a free teacher account on Kahoot! or utilize the solo play links on our website to play completely free.

The Uncovering Cloud Computing Kahoot! tour is designed to take 30 minutes.

We recommend the tour for any grade 3 and above. The tour includes content accessible to each grade and teachers can use the Teacher Toolkit to adjust learning how they see fit.

The following STEM topics will be introduced and explained in real-life context during the Cloud Computing tour: components of computers (input, output, storage, processing), cloud computing, data centers, the Internet, servers, fiber optic cables, protocols, IP addresses, URLs, and DNS (Domain Name System) procols.

Yes. For Kahoot!, you can either share your screen and students play on their own devices, share your screen and students play together as a class, or assign the Kahoot! to your students to complete individually.

We do not collect personal student information on either tour. If a teacher does have a Kahoot! accounts, they can assign the tour to their students to track their students’ progress, but individuals’ information is not shared with Amazon. During the tour, students will answer poll questions about their intent to persist in careers in STEM and their overall thoughts on the tour. These questions are multiple choice and do not collect any PII from students.

Yes, absolutely. Students can also play the Kahoot! version of the tour on their own.

We apologize for the inconvenience. Videos are embedded from YouTube, and if blocked by a firewall, will appear as black screens or not play. If your school has YouTube blocked, please have them whitelist the links to each video in the tour.

Please reach out to afe-contact@amazon.com for any questions.