Lesson Plan

Alan Turing

Plaque marking Alan Turing's former home in Wilmslow, Cheshire

Grade Level(s): 9-12 Subject(s): Physics, History, Computation

In-Class Time: 60 min Prep Time: 10 min

Materials
• Either computers or printed copies of the CIA’s cypher games
• Prize for the winner of the Code War Game
• Discussion Sheets

Objective
In this lesson students will learn about the life and legacy of Alan Turing, father of the modern-day
computer.
Introduction
Alan Turing was born on June 23,1912 in Paddington, London. At age 13, he attended boarding school
at Sherbon School. Here he excelled in math and science. He paid little attention to liberal arts classes to
the frustration of his teachers.

After Sherbon, Turing went on to study at King’s College in Cambridge. Here Turing produced an elegant
solution to the Entscheidungsproblem (Decision problem) for universal machines. At this time, Alonzo
Church also published a paper solving the problem, which led to their collaboration and the
development of the Church-Turing Thesis, and the idea of Turing machines, which by theory can
compute anything that is computable.

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During WWII Turing worked as a cryptanalysist breaking cyphers for the Allies at Blectchy Park. It was
here that Turing built his “Bombe”, a machine that could quickly break any German cipher by running
through hundreds of options per second.

Turing’s machine and team were so quick at breaking these codes the German army was convinced they
had a British spy in their ranks. Turing was also responsible for breaking the infamous naval Enigma
code, which was used by Germany.

Turing went to the United States in 1942 to continue his work in cryptoanalysis and build another
bombe machine. He then developed the Turingery technique to use against more complex ciphers. It
was a tele printer rotor cipher attachment named TUNNY and lead to the world first digital
programmable computer.

The information Turing helped the Allies find was imperative in winning the war. After the war Turing
continued working on the Automatic Computing Engine (ACE) at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL)
with the goal of being able to create artificial intelligence so complex it could trick a human into thinking
it itself was a human. This test is now known as the Turing test. After this Turing became interested in
the pervasiveness of the Fibonacci sequence in nature and published work on it.

An important part of Turing’s life was how open for his time he was about his homosexuality. For a man
with his upper middle-class upbringing and his very public position in the scientific community it was
unthinkable to discuss. Yet Turing felt no need to conceal this part of himself from the people closest to
him. Alan Turing met his closest friend and someone he described as his first love, Christopher Morcom,
during their time at Sherbon. Turing and Morcom developed their friendship through their discussions
about advanced math, physics, and astronomy. Most of their discussions were done through letter
writing so many of their conversations were documented, since Turing kept every letter from Morcom.
Morcom passed away in 1930 due to complications with bovine tuberculosis. This event drastically
changed Alan Turing and made him even more passionate as a scientist.

For a few months during the WWII, Turing was engaged to a woman, Joan Clark. She was a fellow
mathematician who worked with him on the war efforts in Hut 8. They formed a close friendship and
soon Turing asked if she was interested in getting married. They enjoyed the same activities such as
playing chess and studying plants. While Turing was upfront with her about his “homosexual
tendencies,” Clark was not put off. The engagement lasted from the spring till the late summer of 1941.
In the end, Turing broke off the engagement. He was just was not comfortable continuing the
relationship even though he did have a love for Joan Clark.

After the war, Turing met Arnold Murray, a young unemployed man. Turing and Murray’s relationship
was very off and on. In January of 1952, Turing was a victim of burglary. Being the master solver, Turing
found connections and discovered it was an associate of Murray’s. Turing went to the police to report
the burglary and told them who he suspected the criminal was. After police investigated the burglary
they learned about Turing and Murray’s relationship. Homosexuality was a crime in England in 1952 and

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Turing was arrested for indecent acts. Turing’s punishment for this crime was a year of probation and
chemical castration. For a year, Turing had to take a synthetic estragon, which was meant to render him
uninterested in men.

Later, on June 7, 1954 Turing committed suicide by eating an apple that was laced with cyanide. He left
no note and his friends and family were shocked. The only indicator that he might have planned his
death was that he arranged his will in February. Turing was 43 at the time of his passing.

In January 2017, the British government posthumously pardoned thousands of men convicted of crimes
related to homosexuality. This law was named the Turing law, after Alan Turing, since he is a notable
name on the list of men who were posthumously pardoned.

Instructions
Engage: 15 Minutes
Here the students will watch a brief video about the life of Alan Turing and his contributions to the world
we live in while answering discussion questions
What is the teacher doing? What are the students doing?
Play a video for the students in a quiet Watch a video and answer the discussion questions to
environment and answering questions as they learn about Alan Turing and his life.
come up. Make note on whether the students
are staying engaged or not.

Explore: 30 Minutes
Here the students will get the chance to try their own hand at working on the enigma code using a
coding game form the CIA website (Listed in Required Resources below)
What is the teacher doing? What are the students doing?
Break up the students into equal groups and Work together in groups to try and break all the
explain that they are now representing a country codes provided on the CIA site. No Hints allowed,
fighting in the second World War. They students first to break all the codes wins a prize! (Wins
will work against the other teams to break all the the war)
codes the quickest, whoever finishes first wins the
war.
Supervise the students as they work through the
coding game.
Make sure no one is cheating, and each group is
working together.
Make a special emphasis on the actual enigma
code.

Explain: 10 Minutes
The students will read a transcript of the 1951 BBC interview with Turing on the concept of building a
brain.

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 What is the teacher doing? What are the students doing?
Pass out the transcript copies to the students. Read the transcript of the BBC interview with
Turing in 1951.
Write down what Turing though the furutre of the
computer was.

Elaborate: 5 Minutes
The teacher will explain how science and the world has changed since Alan Turing’s suicide, and
show resources available today for LGBT people in STEM, to end on an encouraging note for
student.
What is the teacher doing? What are the students doing?
Explain the progress, the world and physics has Listening to the teacher and taking note that
made by going over the sheet of protections while there has been progress in equality for the
and resources for those in the LGBT community LGBTQ+ community, there is still have a way to
and in STEM, as provided in the resource go.
section below.

Evaluate:
The teacher will be able to evaluate the students understanding by going over the discussion
questions provided as well as the students participation in the sypher decoding activity.

Required/Recommended Reading and Resources

• Video on Alan Turing Life by Undefined Behavior on YouTube: Created by: Cory Chang
Produced by: Vivian Liu Script Editor: Justin Chen, Brandon Chen, Elaine Chang, Zachary
Greenberg, Kevin Dou
o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57xXSfG39i0

• CIA Cypher Breaking Game

o https://www.cia.gov/kids-page/games/break-the-code

• LGBT Resources Sheet

o In the Supplemental Materials section

• Alan Turing, “Can digital Computers Think?”, May,15, 1951 The Turing Digital Archive, BBC,
pages 1-8
o http://www.turingarchive.org/browse.php/B/5

Discussion Questions
Discussion Questions can be found as a Handout with a corresponding Answer Key in the Supplemental
Materials to this lesson plan.

1. Where did Alan Turing attend high school? Who was his closest companion at school?

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 a. Sherbon School
b. Christopher Morcom
2. Where did Turing go to college?
a. King’s College in Cambridge or Cambridge University
3. What was the first large problem Turing solved while he was still in college?
a. Entscheidungsproblem (Decision problem), that computers could never universally
answer a question on their own
4. What did Turing do during WWII?
a. Cryptoanalysis (code breaking)
5. Explain what the Bombe machine does.
a. Break codes by running through thousands of options in a short amount of time
6. What was the goal of Turing after the war while working at NPL?
a. To build artificial intelligence, and computer brain
7. What is the qualification a computer must meet for it to be considered artificial intelligence?
a. Convince a human that they are human themselves.
8. How did police come to the conclusion that Turing was gay? What was his sentencing?
a. Turing reported the burglary and when investigating police investigated his relationship
with Murray.
b. Either Prison or Chemical Castration, he chose Chemical Castration
9. What is the Turing Law?
a. A law that states that men convicted of a crime due to outdated laws regarding
homosexuality are pardoned
10. Name one resource available to LGBTQ+ people in STEM today.
a. Any of the resources in the resource sheet

Further Reading and Additional Resources

Extensions
Related AIP Teacher’s Guides on Women and Minorities in the Physical Sciences:
•
Common Core Standards
For more information on Common Core Standards, visi.

Reading: Literature
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail
its development over the course of the text, including how it
emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an
objective summary of the text.

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CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.3 Analyze a case in which grasping point of view requires
distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what is really
meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement).
Reading: Informational Text
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of
what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the
text, including determining where the text leaves matters
uncertain.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.7 Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented
in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well
as in words in order to address a question or solve a problem.
Speaking & Listening
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative
discussions (oneon-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse
partners on grades 11–12 topics, texts, and issues, building on
others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively. a.
Come to discussions prepared, having read and researched
material under study; explicitly draw on that preparation by
referring to evidence from texts and other research on the topic or
issue to stimulate a thoughtful, well reasoned exchange of ideas.
b. Work with peers to promote civil, democratic discussions and
decision-making, set clear goals and deadlines, and establish
individual roles as needed. c. Propel conversations by posing and
responding to questions that probe reasoning and evidence;
ensure a hearing for a full range of positions on a topic or issue;
clarify, verify, or challenge ideas and conclusions; and promote
divergent and creative perspectives. d. Respond thoughtfully to
diverse perspectives; synthesize comments, claims, and evidence
made on all sides of an issue; resolve contradictions when
possible; and determine what additional information or research is
required to deepen the investigation or complete the task
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.2 Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse
formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) to make
informed decisions and solve problems, evaluating the credibility
and accuracy of each source and noting any discrepancies among
the data.
Language
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.
History/Social Studies
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or
secondary source; provide an accurate summary of how key
events or ideas develop over the course of the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.3 Analyze in detail a series of events described in a text; determine
whether earlier events caused later ones or simply preceded
them.

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 Science & Technical Subjects
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.2 Determine the central ideas or conclusions of a text; trace the
text’s explanation or depiction of a complex process,
phenomenon, or concept; provide an accurate summary of the
text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.2 Follow precisely a complex multistep procedure when carrying out
experiments, taking measurements, or performing technical tasks,
attending to special cases or exceptions defined in the text
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.4 Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-
specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific scientific
or technical context relevant to grades 9–10 texts and topics
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.11- Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-
12.4 specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific scientific
or technical context relevant to grades 11–12 texts and topics.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.11- Synthesize information from a range of sources (e.g., texts,
12.9 experiments, simulations) into a coherent understanding of a
process, phenomenon, or concept, resolving conflicting
information when possible.
Subject Writing
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.

Next Generation Science Standards

For more information on the Next Generation Science Standards, visit http://www.nextgenscience.org/.

Dimension One: Practices 6. Constructing explanations and designing solutions

7. Engaging in argument from evidence
8. Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information
Dimension Two: Crosscutting 1. Patterns
Concepts 4. Systems and system models
Dimension Three: Disciplinary
Core Ideas

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