EDU: Cyber Girls: Teacher training and school-based cyber security education for high school girls

EDU：网络女孩：针对高中女生的教师培训和校本网络安全教育

• 批准号: 1623244
• 负责人: Nasir Memon
• 金额: $ 29.99万
• 依托单位: New York University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-09-01 至 2021-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1623244&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EDU; Cyber; Girls; Teacher; training

The main objective of this two-year project is to develop, implement, and study an intervention that increases cybersecurity awareness and proficiency among high school teachers and exposes high school girls to cybersecurity activities and careers. This objective is spurred by the growing need for cybersecurity professionals coupled with the under-representation of women in this field. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 18% of cybersecurity specialists are women. There has been increasing awareness that any scalable and sustainable effort to grow the workforce in cybersecurity cannot ignore pre-college students, indicating a need for more effective programs and support for high school aged children, especially girls. However, little is known about what it takes to engage adolescent girls in cybersecurity and combat the dramatic shortage of women in the field. This research study will generate evidence based knowledge about successful cybersecurity professional development for high school teachers and effective cybersecurity instruction for adolescent girls. The results will help other districts and schools justify the use of similar intervention models so that their teachers can break the barriers of stereotype threat and engage and retain girls in the cyber security field.More specifically, this innovative cybersecurity intervention includes the following: (1) A cybersecurity training program for high school teachers; (2) A curriculum made up of hands on, collaborative and ability building activities that help high school teachers introduce their female students to concepts and challenges of cybersecurity within single-sex school-based settings; (3) A female mentor network for high school girls and teachers, field trips that expose girls to opportunities in the field and involvement in a nation-wide high school forensics challenge that attracts thousands of students passionate about cybersecurity; (4) Ongoing technical assistance for teachers implementing the curriculum in order to ensure sustainability of the program in the partnering schools; Over the course of two years, at least 150 girls from 3-6 high schools in New York with racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse student populations will be recruited to participate in the intervention. A quasi-experimental design, using a control group and pre-post tests in each school, will be utilized to examine the success of the intervention. Additionally, a qualitative research design will be utilized to document the process of learning that takes place and the experiences of the students. The impact on, and experience of, teachers in the program will also be studied using a pre-post test quantitative and qualitative research design. This mixed methods study will gauge impact and effectiveness in order to improve future efforts and to produce an evidence-based model for engaging girls in cybersecurity, which can be disseminated nationally.

这个为期两年的项目的主要目标是开发、实施和研究一种干预措施，以提高高中教师的网络安全意识和熟练程度，并使高中女生接触网络安全活动和职业。这一目标的推动是由于对网络安全专业人员的需求不断增长以及该领域女性代表性不足。美国劳工统计局报告称，18% 的网络安全专家是女性。人们越来越认识到，任何旨在扩大网络安全劳动力的可扩展和可持续的努力都不能忽视大学前学生，这表明需要为高中适龄儿童（尤其是女孩）提供更有效的计划和支持。然而，人们对如何让青春期女孩参与网络安全并解决该领域女性严重短缺的问题知之甚少。这项研究将为高中教师成功的网络安全专业发展和青春期女孩的有效网络安全指导提供基于证据的知识。研究结果将帮助其他地区和学校证明使用类似干预模式的合理性，以便其教师能够打破刻板印象威胁的障碍，吸引并留住女孩参与网络安全领域。更具体地说，这种创新的网络安全干预措施包括以下内容：（1 ）针对高中教师的网络安全培训计划； (2) 由实践、协作和能力建设活动组成的课程，帮助高中教师向女学生介绍单性别学校环境中网络安全的概念和挑战； (3) 为高中女生和教师设立的女性导师网络、为女生提供实地机会的实地考察以及参与全国性高中取证挑战赛，该挑战赛吸引了数千名对网络安全充满热情的学生； (4) 为实施课程的教师提供持续的技术援助，以确保合作学校的计划的可持续性；在两年的时间里，来自纽约 3-6 所高中的至少 150 名女孩将被招募来参与干预，这些女孩的种族、民族和社会经济背景各不相同。将采用准实验设计，在每所学校使用对照组和事前测试，以检查干预措施是否成功。此外，还将利用定性研究设计来记录学习过程和学生的经历。还将使用事前测试后定量和定性研究设计来研究对该计划中教师的影响和经验。这项混合方法研究将评估影响和有效性，以改进未来的努力，并建立一个让女孩参与网络安全的循证模型，该模型可以在全国范围内传播。