SaTC: EDU: Digital Safety Immersion for Elementary School Students

University Of North Carolina At Charlotte, Charlotte NC

Investigators

Abstract

With increased access to digital devices, children have started to create digital footprints and online identities, with associated risks to their security and privacy. Fostering and facilitating the dynamics of healthy online behaviors, conflict and identity is relevant to producing responsible 21st-century learners in our schools and communities. There is a critical need to develop educational materials and research around experiences emphasizing digital safety for elementary school students. The outcome of this project has the potential to greatly improve digital safety for children without restricting their learning opportunities. This project will also provide undergraduate and graduate students in computing and education majors with the opportunity to gain experience by involving them in the design of the educational materials as well as the evaluation and research activities. The implementation of security education for elementary school grades will promote modernization of digital safety educational materials and help elementary schools adapt to technology development and prepare responsible 21st century learners. This project addresses the need for digital safety and privacy education at the elementary school level. To accomplish this goal the project will design a comprehensive suite of digital safety educational materials for elementary school students in Grades 3-5. Topics will include cyberbullying, digital security and privacy, footprint, and the correct way of communicating on the Internet. The materials will be disseminated to students by training 40 elementary school in-service and pre-service teachers through workshops in the greater Charlotte, North Carolina area. Week-long digital safety summer camps will reach 400 elementary school students and will be used to conduct thorough evaluation and improvement of the educational materials. The project will also engage parents through a Parent workshop and will explore the formation of a Student-Parent-Teacher-Researcher coalition for future digital safety education. In addition, the project proposes to apply a train-the-trainer model to ensure the materials reach a wide range of end users. Thus, trained in-service teachers will be equipped to train other teachers and students in their schools. This project is supported by the Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC) program, which funds proposals that address cybersecurity and privacy, and in this case specifically cybersecurity education. The SaTC program aligns with the Federal Cybersecurity Research and Development Strategic Plan and the National Privacy Research Strategy to protect and preserve the growing social and economic benefits of cyber systems while ensuring security and privacy. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.