Students often have issues opening ZIP files when using a Windows machine. These issues primarily arise because Windows, by default, gives users the option to access the files inside a ZIP file without extracting the actual ZIP file itself. While this behavior seems convenient, it can cause various issues or errors when trying to open the files, as the files inside the ZIP are still compressed, and some applications may be unable to access them.

It is always recommended to extract the entire folder for any ZIP files you intend on using. To do extract a ZIP file, you can take the following steps:

1. Right click the ZIP file
2. Select Extract All…
3. In the resulting window, you will have the option to choose where the folder will be extracted to; the default path is usually fine. 
4. Click Extract at the bottom of the window.

You can now access the fully uncompressed files from the resulting folder.

To unzip a ZIP folder in macOS, simply double-click any ZIP file to open the file with macOS's built-in Archive Utility. Alternatively, you can right-click (or Control + Click) the ZIP file, hover over Open With >, then select Archive Utility.