Networks are the "killer app" of the past decade. The concept of a a stand alone PC has been replaced by the network client concept. The computing environment is no longer a single PC with it's Operating System. Instead, we see the PC as a terminal connected to a large, complex, information rich Wide Area Network called the Internet.
You probably know "how the Internet works", but you know it from a user standpoint. That is, you know "how to USE the Internet". Knowing how it works can happen at many different levels of detail. For a Computer Science class, your detail level needs to be pretty deep. So we will investigate networks with a sharp focus on the low level functions. That means looking at the bit and byte level, as well as the packet level, and the protocol level, and the application level.
To get started, do some background reading at www.howstuffworks.com :
We will add some more as we go. The teacher will help you get started and connect your knowledge of bits and bytes to the functions of the Internet.