Game Based Cybersecurity Training for High School Students

Cybersecurity is critical to the national infrastructure, federal and local government, military, industry, and personal privacy. To defend the U.S. against the cyber threats, a significant demand for skilled cybersecurity workforce is predicted in government and industrial sectors. To address this issue, National Security Agency and the National Science Foundation jointly funded GenCyber program to stimulate the K-12 students' interest in the cybersecurity field and raise their awareness of cybersecurity and safe online behavior. Purdue University Northwest has successfully launched four GenCyber summer camps in 2016 and 2017 to 181 high school students, with 51.3% underrepresented minority ratio (Africa American and Hispanics), and about 2:1 male to female ratio. We delivered GenCyber summer camp activities in the format of game based learning and hands-on labs. The use of game-based learning in the camp was an excellent platform to teach concepts of cyber security principles. For example, in Cyber Defense Tower Game, students need to protect their servers from the different types of cyber-attack. They need to select the correct type of defense to stop each wave of cyber-attack. As the students advanced through the game, combinations of the different attacks would come faster, making it more difficult for the students to defend their servers. This game was well received by the students, support staffs, instructors, and site visit team. Learning through these activities provided high school students with an immersive, learner-centered experience, which has been proven very effective on cybersecurity awareness training and practical skill acquisition for learners from diverse backgrounds. Further analysis of survey data revealed that the gamification of cybersecurity education to raise students' interests in computer science and cybersecurity was more effective in male high school students than in female students.