Leveraging Culturally Relevant Cybersecurity Content for Social Capital and Resilience

• In Event: 58.036 - Social Capital and Resilience: Transforming Practice to Achieve the Promise of Equal Educational Opportunity

Abstract

Objectives
The approach of the “CySec” project is to target children at this younger age because this is the period before they typically lose interest in STEM areas and leak out of the proverbial pipelines that lead to STEM careers (Arnot, et al., 2001; Harackiewicz, et al., 2002; Speering & Rennie, 1996). The decline in STEM participation is even more pronounced in female students and African American and Hispanic students (Rascoe & Atwater, 2005; Sorge, Newsom & Hagerty, 2000). By targeting students earlier, we can inspire them to take courses in high school that will prepare them for postsecondary education, and set them up for success (Stake & Mares, 2005). This is even more important for groups that are underrepresented in the field of cybersecurity (Raytheon, 2015).

Theoretical Framework
By doing this, we are leveraging culturally relevant cybersecurity content for increasing social capital and resilience. There is a great need in the United States to cultivate American cybersecurity experts from a young age and to complement current efforts underway at the college level. Children who are members of underrepresented groups too often lack a sense of identification with STEM fields and endeavors and must be set on tracks to success in ways that are culturally relevant and developmentally appropriate (Gestwicki, 2013; Gay, 2002). The habits of mind and habitual actions of cybersecurity professionals, and STEM professionals generally, involve a high degree of creative problem solving, emergent negotiated action in groups, making sense of complexity that seems chaotic, and other “21st century skills.”

Methods of Inquiry/Data
This paper reports on this project that involved the creation of a collectible card game (CCG) similar to other battle card games for teaching the habits that have become second nature to cybersecurity professionals to underrepresented groups of middle school children (grades 6-8). This CCG is designed to meet the needs of middle grade students where they are both culturally and developmentally for impacting the social capital and resilience of children in inner city Chicago. The project uses a series of methods to gauge the effectiveness and appropriateness of the approach of using CCGs for Cybersecurity learning including video analysis of children’s gameplay, interviews with teachers and students, and alignment meetings with cybersecurity experts and game designers. These were analyzed for themes using the constant comparison method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967).

Results
We found that inner city children responded by designing cards that accord with their cultural proclivities and thereby were empowered to contribute to the design of their own learning environment. This represents resilience and a means to reimagine the role of learning design.

Scholarly Significance
This project has a great deal of the potential to benefit society and contribute to the achievement of specific, desired societal outcomes. Because of its goal to create a CCG and design recommendations for a future digital version of the game, the CySec project may be of interest to educational institutions across the country.

Author

• Michael K. Thomas, University of Illinois at Chicago