With the increasing global adoption of IPv6, understanding its fundamental characteristics and operational behaviors can be important for STEM education, particularly for undergraduate students of electrical engineering and networking. This paper introduces the essential features of IPv6, including the Neighbor Discovery Protocol (NDP), packet fragmentation, and path discovery. Rather than focusing on complex real-world deployments, we concentrate on basic principles and their practical demonstration to help students build a strong foundational understanding of IPv6.

When presenting these concepts to our students, we employ the IMUNES network simulator to illustrate foundational IPv6 behaviors, using simple ping and traceroute tools. In addition to highlighting key differences between IPv4 and IPv6 operations, the results from our IMUNES-based experiments emphasize the importance of practical learning in STEM education, bridging the gap between theoretical concepts and real-world networking.

This kind of hands-on experimentation can help both students and educators to build a solid understanding of IPv6 fundamentals. It has demonstrated improved student engagement and comprehension of complex networking concepts. By illustrating IPv6’s behavior in a simulated environment, this study aims to support educators and researchers in developing effective teaching methodologies that introduce IPv6 networking principles to future engineers.

Keywords: IPv6, NDP, ping, traceroute, packet fragmentation, IMUNES, simulation.