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

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，并使高中女孩接触到网络安全活动和职业。推动这一目标的原因是对网络安全专业人员的需求日益增长，而妇女在这一领域的代表性不足。美国劳工统计局报告称，18%的网络安全专家是女性。越来越多的人意识到，任何可扩展和可持续的网络安全劳动力增长努力都不能忽视大学前的学生，这表明需要为高中年龄的儿童，特别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提供成功的网络安全专业发展的循证知识，并为青春期女孩提供有效的网络安全指导。研究结果将帮助其他地区和学校证明使用类似的干预模式是合理的，以便他们的教师能够打破刻板印象威胁的障碍，并在网络安全领域吸引和留住女孩。更具体地说，这种创新的网络安全干预包括以下内容：(1)针对高中教师的网络安全培训计划；(2)由动手、合作和能力培养活动组成的课程，帮助高中教师向女学生介绍单一性别校本环境下的网络安全概念和挑战；(3)为高中女孩和教师建立一个女性导师网络，进行实地考察，让女孩接触到该领域的机会，并参与一项全国性的高中取证挑战，该挑战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，以确保合作学校计划的可持续性；在为期两年的过程中，将招募来自纽约3-6所高中的至少150名女孩参加干预活动，这些学校的学生人数在种族、民族和社会经济上都不同。采用准实验设计，使用控制组和每个学校的前测，将被用来检验干预的成功。此外，还将利用质的研究设计来记录学生的学习过程和经历。对该项目教师的影响和经验也将采用考前定量和定性研究设计进行研究。这项混合方法研究将衡量影响和效果，以便改进今后的努力，并产生一个让女孩参与网络安全的循证模式，该模式可在全国传播。

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.