SaTC: EDU: Collaborative: Connecting Contexts: Building Foundational Digital Privacy and Security Skills for Elementary School Children, Teachers, and Parents

用户行为在创建和维护网络安全方面发挥着至关重要的作用，而儿童是一个未经充分研究的用户群体，面临着一系列在线隐私和安全威胁的风险。现有的教育材料和资源很难满足幼儿的在线安全需求，这些材料和资源通常仅限于单一环境（家庭或学校），并且很少考虑学习发生的环境。在该项目中，研究团队将利用对儿童与数字技术互动的环境的理解，为小学生的隐私和安全技能培养创造与生活相关的机会。具体来说，该项目将促进幼儿在他们花费大部分时间的两个环境中进行隐私网络安全学习：家庭和学校。该项目将为三个利益相关群体（教师、儿童和家长）开发资源，以帮助教授和学习网络安全的日常应用。该项目还将通过促进小学生学习基本的互联网和技术概念并培养这些技能来帮助他们做出更明智、更安全的在线决策，从而影响小学生的网络安全培训。将重点关注外展活动，以确保开发的资源足够灵活，可以在美国各地的学区使用。该项目利用布朗芬布伦纳的生态系统理论来开发和测试一个新框架——隐私和安全学习的连接上下文框架。该框架将用于建立设计和实施工具和资源的方法，以帮助儿童、家长和教师培养他们可以在日常生活中应用的数字隐私和安全技能和实践。通过与教师和家庭的参与式设计研究，研究团队将创建针对三个年级（K-1、2-3、4-5）量身定制的课程和相关教育材料（即针对学生的微课、针对家长的培训以及针对教师的专业发展和课程材料）。该策略将确保学生能够在整个小学阶段成功发展和扩大对四个核心概念的理解：互联网如何运作、数字隐私、网络安全和成为优秀的数字公民。研究团队将与家长合作，确定他们的需求，帮助他们成为学习过程中的合作伙伴。数据收集将在华盛顿特区和伊利诺伊州芝加哥大都市区的两所小学进行。针对家长的资源将有助于在家里开展亲子对话，鼓励家庭就日常生活中的数字隐私和安全实践进行对话。开发的资源将通过数字平台创建和维护，为美国各地的教师、家长和学区提供广泛的资源访问权限。在最后一年，资源将被广泛共享，该团队将与全国各地的教师和其他教育工作者合作，鼓励更广泛地采用课程和资源。该项目得到安全可信网络空间 (SaTC) 计划的支持，该计划资助解决网络安全和隐私问题的提案，在本例中特别是网络安全教育。 SaTC 计划与联邦网络安全研究与发展战略计划和国家隐私研究战略相一致，旨在保护和维护网络系统不断增长的社会和经济效益，同时确保安全和隐私。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

User behavior plays a crucial role in creating and maintaining cybersecurity, and children are an under-researched user group who are at risk from a range of online privacy and security threats. Young children’s online safety needs are poorly served by existing educational materials and resources, which are typically limited to a single setting (home or school) and rarely consider the contexts where learning occurs. In this project, the research team will leverage understanding of the contexts in which children interact with digital technologies to create life-relevant opportunities for privacy and security skill building for elementary school children. Specifically, the project will promote young children’s privacy cybersecurity learning across the two contexts where they spend most of their time: home and school. The project will develop resources for each of its three stakeholder groups (teachers, children, and parents) to help in teaching and learning about everyday applications of cybersecurity. The project will also impact cybersecurity training for elementary school children by facilitating their learning about basic Internet and technology concepts and developing those skills to help them make smarter and safer decisions online. There will be a significant focus on outreach to ensure developed resources are flexible enough to be used in school districts around the U.S.This project leverages Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory to develop and test a new framework—Connecting Contexts Framework for Privacy and Security Learning. This framework will be used to establish methods for designing and implementing tools and resources to help children, parents, and teachers develop digital privacy and security skills and practices they can apply in their everyday lives. Through participatory design research with teachers and families, the research team will create curriculum and related educational materials (i.e., micro-lessons for students, training for parents, and professional development and curriculum materials for teachers) that will be tailored across three grade bands (K-1, 2-3, 4-5). This strategy will ensure students can successfully develop and expand their understanding of four core concepts throughout elementary school: how the Internet works, digital privacy, cybersecurity, and being a good digital citizen. The research team will work with parents to identify their needs to help them become partners in the learning process. Data collection will occur at two elementary schools in the Washington, DC and Chicago, IL metropolitan regions. Parent-specific resources will help scaffold parent-child conversations at home to encourage family conversations about digital privacy and security practices in everyday life. Developed resources will be created and maintained through a digital platform to provide widespread access to the resources to teachers, parents, and school districts across the U.S. In the final year, resources will be shared widely, and the team will work with teachers and other educators around the country to encourage wider adoption of curriculum and resources.This project is supported by the Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC) program, which funds proposals that address cybersecurity and privacy, and in this case specifically cybersecurity 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.