This paper describes the design, implementation and research of the Cyber Sleuth Science Lab (CSSL), an innovative educational program and supporting virtual learning environment, that combines pedagogical theory, gender inclusive instruction strategies, scientific principles/practices, gamification methods, computational thinking, and real-world problem solving. This program provides underrepresented youth, especially girls, with digital forensic knowledge, skills and career pathways, challenging them to explore complex social issues related to technology and to become cyber sleuths using real-world digital forensic methods and tools to solve investigative scenarios. Students also learn about related careers while improving their cyber street smarts. The CSSL incorporates additional “outside of the computer” activities to strengthen students’ engagement such as structured in-classroom discussions, mock trials, and in-person interactions with practitioner role models. The CSSL was piloted in various forms to assess the suitability for in-school and out-of-school settings, and the students predominantly represented racial minorities. Research in this project relied on a mixed methods approach for data collection and analysis, including qualitative and quantitative methods, reinforced using learning analytics generated from the students clicking through the interface and interacting with the system. Analysis of gathered data indicate that the virtual learning environment developed in this project is highly effective for teaching digital forensic knowledge, skills, and abilities that are directly applicable in the workplace. Furthermore, the strategies for gender inclusive STEM instruction implemented in CSSL are effective for engaging girls without being harmful to boys’ engagement. Learning STEM through digital forensic science taps into girls’ motivations to address real-world problems that have direct relevance to their lives, and to protect and serve their community. After participating in the educational program, girls expressed a significantly greater increase in interest, relative to boys, in learning more about careers related to digital forensics and cybersecurity.
Towards Designing Shared Digital Forensics Instructional Materials
This paper presents a systematic approach to designing
digital forensics instructional materials to address
the severe shortage of active learning materials in the digital
forensics community. The materials include real-world scenario-based
case studies, hands-on problem-driven labs for each
case study, and an integrated forensic investigation environment.
In this paper, we first clarify some fundamental concepts related
to digital forensics, such as digital forensic artifacts, artifact
generators, and evidence. We then re-categorize knowledge units
of digital forensics based on the artifact generators for measuring
the coverage of learning outcomes and topics. Finally, we utilize
a real-world cybercrime scenario to demonstrate how knowledge
units, digital forensics topics, concepts, artifacts, and investigation
tools can be infused into each lab through active learning. The
repository of the instructional materials is publicly available on
GitHub. It has gained nearly 600 stars and 22k views within
several months.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2039288
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10404816
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- the IEEE 46th Annual Computers, Software, and Applications Conference (COMPSAC'22)
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 117-122
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
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