PNW GenCyber Summer Camp: Game based Cybersecurity Education for High School Students
Ge Jin, Michael Barth Tu, Tae-Hoon Kim, Justin Heffron, JONATHAN W. WHITE · 2024
Cybersecurity is critical to the national infrastructure, government, military and industry.To defend the U.S. against the cyber threats, a significant demand for skilled cybersecurity workforce is predicted in government and industrial sectors.To address this issue, Purdue University Northwest has successfully launched four GenCyber summer camps for 181 high school students in Chicago metropolitan area to stimulate the high school students' interest in the cybersecurity field and raise their awareness of cybersecurity and safe online behavior.PNW GenCyber summer camp activities were delivered in the format of game based learning and hands-on labs.The use of game-based learning in the camp was an excellent platform to teach concepts of cyber security principles.Game based learning provided an immersive, learner-centered experience to high school students, which has been proven to be very effective on cybersecurity awareness training and practical skill acquisition for learners from diverse backgrounds.