Cybersecurity expertise continues to be relevant as a means to confront threats and maintain vital infrastructure in our increasingly digitized world. Public and private initiatives have prioritized building a robust and qualified cybersecurity workforce, requiring student buy-in. However, cybersecurity education typically remains siloed even within computer and information technology (CIT) curriculum. This paper's goal is to support endeavors and strategies of outreach to encourage interest in cybersecurity. To this end, we conducted a survey of 126 CIT students to investigate student perceptions of cybersecurity and its major crosscutting concepts (CCs). The survey also investigates the prevalence of preconceptions of cybersecurity that may encourage or dissuade participation of people from groups underrepresented in computing. Regardless of prior learning, we found that students perceive cybersecurity as a relatively important topic in CIT. We found student perspectives on conceptual foundations of cybersecurity were significantly different (p < .05) than when simply asked about "cybersecurity," indicating many students don't have an accurate internal construct of the field. Several previously studied preconceptions of cybersecurity were reported by participants, with one misconception - that cybersecurity "requires advanced math skills" - significantly more prevalent in women than men (p < .05). Based on our findings, we recommend promoting cybersecurity among post-secondary students by incorporating elements of cybersecurity into non-cybersecurity CIT courses, informed by pedagogical strategies previously used for other topics in responsible computing.
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Facilitating Conceptual Change by Engaging Students’ Preconceptions During College Science Classroom Instruction
Whether to engage student preconceptions to facilitate conceptual change is an area of debate among conceptual change theorists. Here, we evaluate the efficacy of a preconceptions-based instructional sequence about groundwater previously described by (Arthurs, 2019). To assess the impact this instructional sequence had on facilitating the development of more expert-like mental models about groundwater among college students, this research is rooted in the design study methodology and framed within the knowledge integration perspective of conceptual change. The relation of the instructional sequence to conceptual change is investigated in terms of cognitive, temporal, and social considerations. Students’ responses to items in in-class activities, homework, exams, and pre- and post-course surveys; the instructor’s lesson plans and notes; and classroom observations provide evidence of the preconceptions-based instructional sequence’s impact. We conclude the sequence has a significant positive impact on facilitating conceptual change for a range of student demographics, including gender and race.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1821709
- PAR ID:
- 10297652
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of college science teaching
- Volume:
- 51
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 0047-231X
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 28-35
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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