EDU: Development and Analysis of a Cybersecurity Education Game

该项目包括设计和开发教学游戏，向小学至六年级的学生介绍网络安全和网络安全概念。它将让学生参与展示网络安全与他们周围世界的相关性的活动；用创造性的解谜练习挑战学生；并将分析适合年龄的网络安全游戏对引入网络安全知识的有效性。这个项目的一个主要方面是向小学生传播网络安全原则。如果在测试案例中取得成功，这些游戏将提供给全国的学区使用，以帮助建立国家网络安全文化。为配合不同年级学生的能力差异，本计划将制作一系列简短的互动游戏，向他们传授适龄的课程。在交付给德克萨斯州和加利福尼亚州的参与学区后，将对其有效性进行分析，并将结果提供给其他研究人员。拟议的研究将分三个阶段进行。在第一阶段，该项目将创建至少六个面向广大受众的原型游戏，以培养对安全主题的好奇心。游戏将使用成熟和熟悉的游戏引擎。在第二阶段，该项目将在德克萨斯州的圣安东尼奥和加利福尼亚州的洛杉矶学区开发和部署至少两个原型。在第三阶段，项目将评估游戏的接受度和影响；传播课程材料、评价材料和经验教训；并将所有的软件工具提供给其他教育工作者。

The project involves the design and development of pedagogical games to introduce cybersecurity and cyber safety concepts to students in grades K-6. It will engage students with activities demonstrating the relevance of cybersecurity to the world around them; challenge students with creative puzzle-solving exercises; and will analyze the effectiveness of age-appropriate cybersecurity games to introduce cybersecurity knowledge. A major aspect of this project is the dissemination of cybersecurity principles to elementary school students. If successful in test cases, the games will be provided to school districts for their use nationwide to help establish a national culture of cybersecurity.To address the vast difference in capabilities of students in these grades, the project will develop a series of short interactive fun games designed to convey age-appropriate lessons. After delivery to participating school districts in Texas and California, an analysis of their effectiveness will be conducted and the results will be made available to other researchers. The proposed research will be conducted in three phases. In Phase 1, the project will create at least six prototype games accessible to a wide audience, that foster curiosity in security topics. The games will use established and familiar game engines. In Phase 2, the project will develop and deploy at least two of the prototypes in San Antonio, TX and Los Angelos, CA school districts. In Phase 3, the project will evaluate acceptance and impact of the games; disseminate curricular materials, evaluation materials and lessons learned; and will make all software tools available to other educators.