The Engineering Design Process is a problem-solving system that engineers use to develop products and solutions. The process emphasizes iterative thinking and learning from failure.

• Introduction to the Engineering Process
• Criteria and Constraints 
• Activity: Tinfoil Boat Challenge
  
• Blockchain Design Process

Cryptography is the art of writing or solving codes, and is used in cryptocurrencies to make them difficult to counterfeit.

• Activity: Decode a Cipher
• What is cryptography?
• History of Cryptography
• What is a cipher?
• Exercise: Create Your Own Cipher

Symmetric encryption encodes a message using a key that the message can’t be read without. Asymmetric encryption uses two keys, a public key and a private key, to encrypt data.

• Symmetric and Asymmetric Encryption
• Why do we need encryption?
• Activity: Passing Notes with Symmetric Encryption
• Problems with Symmetric Encryption
• Public & Private Keys
• Activity: Paint Mixing Encryption

Hashing is a more complicated form of asymmetric encryption where the encrypted message will always be 43 characters (256 bits) long. This is the type of encryption that blockchain uses to encrypt everything.

• Is regular encryption enough?
• Why is hashing so useful?
• Digital Signatures
• Activity: Escape Room

Blockchain systems are made of blocks, which hold data and hashes, chained together.

• What exactly is blockchain?
• Defining the terms “distributed, decentralized, and digital ledger”
• Transactions in a blockchain
• What are blocks?

Consensus mechanisms are methods for making decisions when there is no single person or central authority in charge. This lesson introduces students to the two most popular consensus mechanisms: proof of work and proof of stake.

• How does blockchain embed trust into its system?
• What is consensus?
• Proof of Work
• What is blockchain “mining”?
• Proof of Stake
• Activity: Kahoot Quiz

There are thousands of cryptocurrencies out there so we have a discussion about the biggest 10, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and DogeCoin. 

• Discussion on whether crypto has value
• The differences between each crypto
• Activity: Case Study on the “Dark Side” of Crypto: How a Young Couple Failed to Launder Billions of Dollars in Stolen Bitcoin

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are unique cryptographic tokens that exist on a blockchain and cannot be replicated.

• How are NFTs and cryptocurrencies related?
• NFT Overview
• Activity: Mint Your Own NFT

Smart Contracts are a program stored on a blockchain that executes automatically when the agreed upon conditions are met.

• Traditional Contracts vs. Smart Contracts
• What are the benefits of smart contracts?
• Smart Contracts in Supply Chains
• Activity: AirForce 1 Supply Chain Logic Problems

Activity: As their final project, students are tasked with solving one of the most pressing problems that their generation is facing: climate change. Bitcoin gets a tough time for its CO2 emissions so students must work to figure out how to reduce the CO2 emissions of the Bitcoin network while maintaining high levels of security, speed and scalability. Not an easy task!