Computing as the 4th “R”: a general education approach to computing education

Computing and computation are increasingly pervading our lives, careers, and societies - a change driving interest in computing education at the secondary level. But what should define a "general education" computing course at this level? That is, what would you want every person to know, assuming they never take another computing course? We identify possible outcomes for such a course through the experience of designing and implementing a general education university course utilizing best-practice pedagogies. Though we nominally taught programming, the design of the course led students to report gaining core, transferable skills and the confidence to employ them in their future. We discuss how various aspects of the course likely contributed to these gains. Finally, we encourage the community to embrace the challenge of teaching general education computing in contrast to and in conjunction with existing curricula designed primarily to interest students in the field

Using Bloom\u27s Taxonomy for Math Outreach Within and Outside the Classroom

Not everyone is a great artist, but we don’t often hear, “I dislike art.” Most people are able to appreciate visual arts, music and sports, without necessarily excelling in it themselves. On the other hand, the phrase “I dislike math” is widely prevalent. This is especially ironic in our current society, where mathematics affects our day-to-day activities in essential ways such as e-commerce and e-mail. This paper describes the opportunity to popularize mathematics by focusing on its fun and creative aspects, and illustrates this opportunity through a brief discussion of interdisciplinary topics that expose the beauty, elegance and value of mathematics within and beyond the typical K-16 curriculum. We share practical outreach methods inspired by real, fun mathematics, and our experience with a liberal-arts ‘math for poets’ course which aims to develop math appreciation without losing its rigor or depth. While many of us are not comfortable doing live performances or making fancy videos, we all can use these methods to encourage a more positive mindset about mathematics in our communities

The future of Cybersecurity in Italy: Strategic focus area

This volume has been created as a continuation of the previous one, with the aim of outlining a set of focus areas and actions that the Italian Nation research community considers essential. The book touches many aspects of cyber security, ranging from the definition of the infrastructure and controls needed to organize cyberdefence to the actions and technologies to be developed to be better protected, from the identification of the main technologies to be defended to the proposal of a set of horizontal actions for training, awareness raising, and risk management

A Survey of Serious Games for Cybersecurity Education and Training

Serious games can challenge users in competitive and entertaining ways. Educators have used serious games to increase student engagement in cybersecurity education. Serious games have been developed to teach students various cybersecurity topics such as safe online behavior, threats and attacks, malware, and more. They have been used in cybersecurity training and education at different levels. Serious games have targeted different audiences such as K-12 students, undergraduate and graduate students in academic institutions, and professionals in the cybersecurity workforce. In this paper, we provide a survey of serious games used in cybersecurity education and training. We categorize these games into four types based on the topics they cover and the purposes of the games: security awareness, network and web security, cryptography, and secure software development. We provide a catalog of games available online. This survey informs educators of available resources for cybersecurity education and training using interactive games. Keywords: Serious games; Game-based Learning; Cybersecurity

Start a Math Teacher Circle: Connect K-12 Teachers with Engaging, Approachable, and Meaningful Mathematical Problems

Many K-12 math teachers are not ready to teach from a conceptual and inquiry-oriented perspective because they have an algorithmic understanding of mathematics. One solution is to create a math teacher circle (MTC), which provides conceptual and inquiry-based learning activities and builds professionalism among the teachers. In this paper, we describe the origins of two such MTCs, highlighting the process of identifying leadership team members, submitting the grant proposal for seed money, and hosting launch events, intensive summer workshops, and monthly meetings during the academic year. We also share opportunities for professional development for college and university faculty, including research linked to shifts in in-service teacher attitudes. We finish the paper with several of this year’s best activities used at our MTC meetings, including fair division, extensions and generalizations of numerical and algebraic patterns, and applications in cryptography

Start a Math Teacher Circle: Connect K-12 Teachers with Engaging, Approachable, and Meaningful Mahtematical Problems

Many K-12 math teachers are not ready to teach from a conceptual and inquiry-oriented pe

Gamification of Cyber Security Awareness : A Systematic Review of Games

The frequency and severity of cyber-attacks have increased over the years with damaging consequences such as financial loss, reputational damage, and loss of sensitive data. Most of these attacks can be attributed to user error. To minimize these errors, cyber security awareness training is conducted to improve user awareness. Cyber security awareness training that is engaging, fun, and motivating is required to ensure that the awareness message gets through to users. Gamification is one such method by which cyber security awareness training can be made fun, engaging, and motivating. This thesis presents the state of the art of games used in cyber security awareness. In this regard, a systematic review of games following PRISMA guidelines was conducted on the relevant papers published between 2010 to 2021. The games were analyzed based on their purpose, cyber security topics taught, target audience, deployment methods, game genres implemented and learning mechanics applied. Analysis of these games revealed that cyber security awareness games are mostly deployed as computer games, targeted at the general public to create awareness in a wide range of cyber security topics. Most of the games implement the role-playing genre and apply demonstration learning mechanics to deliver their cyber security awareness message effectively