Phishing Patrol
Strange messages are flooding the sixth-grade group. One promises free coins, another warns your account is about to be deleted. Which are real and which are bait? Study the messages and crack four locks to clear the case.
The premise
A student named Dario keeps getting messages that push him to click fast, hand over a password, or type in a secret code. He is not sure which ones are safe. Read the clues, weigh the evidence, and open all four locks. Each lock ends with a reason that proves why the 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; “The Weather Fact” 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 6, §126.17, Digital Citizenship strand — subsections (c)(10). 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 Name The Bait |
Name The Bait | (c)(10) Privacy, safety & security |
| Lock 2 Spot The Scam |
Spot The Scam | (c)(10) Privacy, safety & security |
| Lock 3 Read The Message |
Read The Message | (c)(10) Privacy, safety & security |
| Lock 4 Respond The Safe Way |
Respond The Safe Way | (c)(10) Privacy, safety & security |
In the classroom
- Warm up (5 min). Ask: “Open the Message Log” — 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.