Cyber Warriors Curriculum: Then and Now

By Rachel Ware

As CompuGirls Cyber Warriors wraps up its third year, we are creating a new cybersecurity curriculum with the mentor teachers who have been with us for the Fall 2022 and Spring 2023 camp or longer. They have been great mentors to the students, and we have had some of our best camps yet!

Working with them to create this new cybersecurity curriculum expands what is taught in the virtual camp and continues to develop these culturally responsive cybersecurity educators who range from college students to veteran teachers. The 10 mentor teachers are paired up to write a lesson including artificial intelligence (AI) topics, which are only becoming more salient.

We look forward to what they come up with so returning students can learn and continue to engage in relevant discussions about cybersecurity.

The past Cyber Warrior curriculum focused on cybersecurity topics such as phishing, cryptography, and coding. Students took part in virtual camps on Saturday mornings for five weeks discussing cybersecurity, their experiences, and how they can impact their communities.

An integral part of the Cyber Warrior camp is the culminating coalition building project where students showcase what they have learned about being a technosocial change agent. For instance, student technosocial change agent projects in the Fall camp included advice about screen time and the dangers of sharing your day on TikTok.

In the Spring camp, students worked on multiple tasks like encrypting and decrypting messages, cracking each other’s plans for surprise parties, and coding password generators. In addition to cybersecurity skills, students also bonded over their discussions and collaborated on activities.

We are excited to see what the mentor teachers create and how they continue with this work!