Introducing Summer Camp Students to Modern Cryptography
Barry J. Griffiths · The Clearing House A Journal of Educational Strategies Issues and Ideas · 2015
For countries to remain competitive in the global economy, it is important to cultivate the next generation of native mathematicians. However, this goal has been increasingly challenging in the United States where, despite the tremendous increase in university enrolment during recent decades, the number of students studying mathematics has remained almost constant. This article continues the work of Griffiths and Haciomeroglu (2014) in discussing how academics can expose students to the beauty and complexity of upper-level mathematics at an early age, with the goal of increasing the number of students gaining a degree in mathematics rather than committing to an alternative program of study. The primary focus of this work is to look at the results of a three-week summer camp in cryptography given to talented local high school students at the University of Central Florida, where the included topics went beyond those typically taught at the introductory level. Perceptions of the participants, gathered through interviews given toward the end of the course, will also be included.