Modern Cryptography Education of Middle School Students: A Review of Current Works

For many individuals, particularly youth, cryptography remains a hidden component of information technology, digital communications, and cybersecurity. Decrypting this complex field is an essential and valuable skill for protecting our modern digital systems. Youth begin to engage significantly with information technology when they are 11 to 13 years old and learn about the systems used to protect them. This paper presents a systemization of knowledge on the current practices of teaching middle school-aged students about cryptographic algorithms, systems, and protocols. The effort focuses on understanding what research, systems, and tools currently exist for cryptography education, whether students are exposed to modern cryptography, and the challenges educators face in teaching this complex topic. Our thorough examination of the research shows that teaching cryptography to students is currently very limited. The examined papers discuss cases where some cryptography is taught to small groups of selected students, but no works cover modern cryptographic practices nor include a broad range of students. This lack of coverage of modern cryptography and missing generally-available curriculum and tools limits education on this important topic. Based on the findings from the review of works, we present recommendations for improving middle school cryptography education.