EAGER: SaTC-EDU: A Case- and Play-Based Learning Module for Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence Education for Early Teen Learners

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are expanding into more aspects of our daily lives as well as key infrastructure. As a result, understanding these concepts and their relationship with cybersecurity is becoming increasingly important both for all students and the nation’s workforce. Providing engaging learning experiences for K-12 learners around cybersecurity and AI education is critical, especially during the early teen years when individuals are developing career aspirations and interests.

This is beneficial at the level of both individuals and the nation, as it contributes to the development of the nation’s future STEM workforce and citizenry. Current K-12 cybersecurity education is largely accomplished through ‘digital literacy’ activities in classrooms or out-of-school initiatives with few authentic programming elements for younger learners.

Moreover, AI/ML do not feature in these curricula even though AI efforts in K-12 schools are separately garnering attention. This case- and play-based learning (CAPABLE) module for cybersecurity and AI education project will address this gap in cybersecurity and AI/ML education for K-12 learners. The project will develop an authentic, engaging learning experience that will introduce students in grades 8-10 to the fundamentals of cybersecurity and its interplay with AI.

The proposed effort will innovate in the areas of curriculum and pedagogy to systematically integrate ideas from cybersecurity, AI, and ML. These topics are typically taught separately, if at all, and providing integrated learning experiences in these critical computer science (CS) topics will empower learners in their early teen years. The project will involve development and empirical investigation of a 40-hour learning module—AI & Cybersecurity for Teens (ACT)—to motivate and engage students aged 13-15.

The ACT module will be made available for use in cybersecurity camps and/or as an extension to CS and/or AI curricula in school classrooms. The curriculum and pedagogy will utilize collaborative board or card games to orient students to cybersecurity concepts. It will also include an innovative collection of authentic, real-world ‘cases’ related to cybersecurity issues (such as cyberfraud, cyberbullying, hacking, phishing) with which young teens can identify.

These will be paired with related, transformative programming exercises in the NetsBlox programming environment and involving AI/ML, which will help build student understanding of ML models and AI/ML techniques including text classification, neural networks and generative adversarial networks. The project team will also design a Cybersecurity Scenario-Based Assessment to assess understanding of cybersecurity and AI/ML concepts.

This project is supported by a special initiative of the Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC) program to foster new, previously unexplored, collaborations between the fields of cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and education. The SaTC program aligns with the Federal Cybersecurity Research and Development Strategic Plan and the National Privacy Research Strategy to protect and preserve the growing social and economic benefits of cyber systems while ensuring security and privacy.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.