Junior ICT | File Management and Backup Prep Guide (Tutor Edition) | Paths, Extensions, Capacity and Four Mistakes

2026-11-12

Tutor lesson-prep guides · Junior Secondary ICT

Missing homework is usually not unfinished homework: the file exists three times on the desktop, one copy was renamed, one lost an extension, and none can be found. This is a path problem rather than a computer problem, so the lesson uses one tree, three letters and one backup rule to make lost files preventable.

Objectives — Students can: (1) write a full path from the root and explain why a bare file name cannot locate anything; (2) decide from an extension which kind of program opens a file, and state that renaming an extension does not convert a format; (3) use 1,024 arithmetic to show that 480 photos at 5 MB each total 2400 MB, or 2.34 GB, which is 0.46 percent of a 512 GB drive.

01 Prerequisites (3-minute check)

If any of these fails, fix it before the lesson starts.

Skill	Quick check	Pass mark
File explorer basics	How do you create a new folder	Right-click in the target place, choose new folder, name it and press Enter
Unit knowledge	How many KB are in 1 MB	1,024 KB, using 1024 rather than 1000
Storage devices	Which kind of device is a USB stick	Storage, and the data survives power loss

02 Lesson flow (45 minutes)

Time	Stage	Tutor does	Student does
0-5 min	Two file names	Show IMG_2043.JPG and report.docx and ask which is a photo	Write answers, compare at the end
5-15 min	The path is a tree	Write a full path from the root, then show a relative path from the current folder	Fill the missing levels of one path
15-25 min	Extensions	The extension picks the program, and renaming does not convert	Match six extensions to programs
25-35 min	Capacity arithmetic	480 photos times 5 MB is 2400 MB, which is 2.34 GB after dividing by 1,024	Compute once with units
35-42 min	The 3-2-1 rule	Three copies, two media, one off site, and audit student plans line by line	Judge three backup plans
42-45 min	Exit check	Collect two questions and mark whether paths or backup failed	Work independently

03 Teaching script (read it out)

Scene 1: A path is a tree, not a string of characters

Students write the file is called report.docx and think they have been precise, because they only see the copy in front of them. Widen the frame first: a machine may hold a hundred files with that name, so the system walks down from the root one level at a time. Draw a tree on the board, root at the top, folders below, subfolders below that, and files as leaves. Then show two ways to write a path, one from the root all the way down and one that starts from the folder you are standing in. Give one operational rule: from the root to the file name, with every level present; a missing level is an error, and the starting point of a relative path is the current folder, never the desktop. The exercise that works is asking each student to write the full path of their own homework and having a classmate open it from that path; if it does not open, the path is wrong rather than the computer.
Students do: repair a path missing two levels, then walk it with the mouse to confirm the file opens.

Students say: explain why a bare file name must fail when three people share one machine.

Scene 2: The extension is read by the system, not decoration

An extension does one job: it tells the system which program should open the file. JPG goes to an image viewer, docx to a word processor, mp4 to a player and pdf to a reader. Break the commonest misconception out loud: renaming docx to pdf leaves the content untouched and the file still will not open; a rename changes the label, not the data, and a real conversion uses save-as or export inside the program. The second misconception is the hidden extension. Windows hides known extensions by default, so students see a name and believe that is the whole name, when the file is really that name plus docx; switch extension display on in the view options and the confusion disappears. Test with a matching task of six extensions against six programs, and re-teach anything below four correct.
Students do: name one kind of program for JPG, docx, mp4, pdf, xlsx and zip.

Students say: explain why renaming does not convert, mentioning that the content is unchanged.

Scene 3: Numbers and backup: measure first, then choose a strategy

Capacity has one rule, 1,024 units per step. 480 photos at 5 MB each total 2400 MB, which is 2.34 GB after dividing by 1,024, and that is 0.46 percent of a 512 GB drive. The second number is compression: a saving of 65 percent means 35 percent remains, so each photo drops from 5 MB to 1.75 MB and the set falls to 840 MB. Students routinely swap the saved share with the remaining share, so say both names out loud. The third number is backup volume: 40 MB a day is 14600 MB a year, about 14.26 GB, so even a 32 GB stick holds roughly two years. Audit any plan against the three lines of 3-2-1: three copies, two different media, one copy off site. Copying to the D drive looks like backup but sits on the same machine, same medium and same place, so it fails all three. Close by asking each student which of the three lines their own habit is missing, and accept only an answer that names a line.
Students do: compute one year of backups and list which 3-2-1 line their plan lacks.

Students say: explain why a same-machine copy is not a backup, mentioning that one hardware failure reaches both copies.

04 Question types and worked steps

Type	Example	Steps	Answer
Extension judgement	Which of IMG_2043.JPG and report.docx is a photo	Read the last three letters	JPG is an image, docx is a document
Path writing	A file inside the 2026 subfolder of notes	A relative path only lists the levels going down	The subfolder name, a slash, then the file name
Capacity arithmetic	480 photos at 5 MB each	Multiply MB first, then divide by 1,024	2400 MB, which is 2.34 GB
Backup audit	Is a copy in another folder on the same machine enough	Ask the three 3-2-1 lines in turn	No: same medium and same location

Sanity check (teach this): Sanity check: capacity always uses 1,024 and every answer carries a unit; percentages take the original size as the denominator and compression questions separate the saved share from the remaining share; backup plans are audited only against the three 3-2-1 lines rather than by feeling; a path runs from the root to the file name with no level missing; and every answer must be repeatable by a classmate using the machine.

05 Independent practice (3 questions)

Question	Answer	What to watch
Capacity	480 times 5 MB	Check multiply then divide by 1,024, with GB shown
Compression	A 65 percent saving on 5 MB	Check whether 35 percent or 65 percent was used
Backup audit	Which of three plans meets 3-2-1	Check that three lines are audited, not guessed

06 Common mistakes and what to say

Mistake	Student writes	Say this
Treating 1 MB as 1,000 KB	1 MB equals 1,000 KB	Computers count 1,024, so writing 1,000 shifts every capacity answer and longer questions will always fail.
Renaming instead of converting	I changed it to pdf so it is a PDF now	The last three letters changed but not one byte of content did, which is why it still will not open.
Backing up onto the same machine	I backed it up on the D drive	One machine failing takes both copies, so at least one copy must live somewhere else.
Giving only a file name	The file is called report.docx	A hundred files can share that name, so the system needs the whole path from the root before it can find yours.

07 Homework (paper, section and question numbers)

Junior ICT chapter index — All chapters for the subject
Prep guide master index — Matching chapters in other subjects
Redo this chapter — Practice 1 and 3: capacity arithmetic and the backup audit

08 Exit check (last 5 minutes)

Question	Answer	Decision
Capacity	2400 MB is 2.34 GB	A wrong value means act three again
Extensions	They choose the program, and renaming does not convert	No answer means act two again
3-2-1	Three copies, two media, one off site	A missing line means act three again

09 Tutor FAQ

Does cloud storage count as a backup?

It counts as one copy, but one copy is not a backup; meeting 3-2-1 usually means one local and one cloud copy.

Can compression damage a file?

Normal compression reverses cleanly, but power loss during the process or an already faulty file can break it, so keep the original.

How many folders should students make?

Judge by whether they can find things; three levels is usually enough, and deeper trees are harder to remember than to search.

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A TutorZone lesson-prep guide. Written by the TutorZone team; questions and lesson flow are original and are not taken from any school or publisher material.