Gondree, Mark A.

This proposed project intends to expand and mature the Cyber Adventurers program-an extramural STEM program piloted in Salinas, California, in Summer 2012-through collaboration between the Naval Postgraduate School, California State University Monterey Bay, Hartnell Community College and the Lyceum of Monterey. The project seeks to expand the existing Cyber Adventurers Pilot to include computer security topics appropriate for its target audiences: middle school, high school, and undergraduates early in their career. The grant will provide support for curriculum development and continuation of the Cyber Adventurers program over two years, to include:

(a) Running two weeklong summer programs for students at La Paz Middle School;

(b) Developing and running activities in the context of Alisal High School's Engineering club, i.e., an existing STEM club at the high school for which La Paz is a feeder school;

(c) Maturing the Cyber Adventurer's program infrastructure, including its online badge and tracking systems;

(d) Developing badges for security topics and new, engaging, self-contained, kinesthetic activities that leverage tools used in popular extramural STEM programs -e.g., Scratch, Alice, Lego Mindstorms-to teach cyber-security topics.

(e) Evaluating the impact of our target STEM extramural program, in particular with respect to our security activities; and