Track the Trackers
Someone has been following a student across the internet — quietly, from site to site. Read the clues, solve four locks, and expose how the tracking works.
The premise
Websites can leave tiny files called cookies that follow you as you move from page to page. Your job is to learn how a digital footprint forms and how data trails you online. Crack all four locks, and each one will show the reason its answer is correct.
How this breakout builds CLEAR thinking
Every Critical Thinking Online Breakout runs on the CLEAR process — Claim, Lens, Evidence, Alternatives, Response (full framework). Here is where students practice each step in this activity:
- Claim — for each lock, decide what answer it is really asking for, and make it specific.
- Lens — notice what you already assume before you choose.
- Evidence — weigh the six clues; “Library Hamster” is true but off-topic, so it is not evidence for any lock.
- Alternatives — the multiple-choice and multi-select locks force a comparison of competing options.
- Response — the reason revealed after each lock models the justified answer to act on.
Standards alignment
Aligned to Texas TEKS Technology Applications, Grade 5, §126.10, Digital Citizenship strand — subsections (c)(10), (c)(8), (c)(9). Skills are paraphrased; read the official standard at tea.texas.gov. This page shows the reasoning focus of each lock — not the answers.
| Lock | Reasoning focus | DigCit substrand |
|---|---|---|
| Lock 1 Parts of the Footprint |
Components of a digital footprint | (c)(10) Privacy, safety & security |
| Lock 2 Match Your Audience |
Audience-appropriate etiquette | (c)(8) Social interactions |
| Lock 3 The Secure Code |
Secured connections (HTTPS) | (c)(10) Privacy, safety & security |
| Lock 4 The Fair Way to Borrow |
Copyright consequences & permission | (c)(9) Ethics & laws |
In the classroom
- Warm up (5 min). Ask: “Follow the Cookie Trail” — what does this mean online? Surface prior experience before the activity.
- Model one clue. Open a single clue together and think aloud: what does this tell us, and which lock might it help?
- Reason, don’t guess. Require students to say why before checking a lock. After each solve, read the revealed reason and compare it to their thinking.
- Spot the decoy. One clue is true but useless. Debrief which one and how they knew — a core evaluation skill.
- Language support. The 🌐 picker offers 7 languages; pair newcomers to discuss clues in their home language, then answer.
- Extend. Have students write a new clue, or a real-life example, for the focus skill they found hardest.