Investigating the accessibility and impacts of cybersecurity programs on high-school girls’ long-term industry engagement

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mridula Shan ◽  
Jeong Yang

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate whether having accessible cybersecurity programs (CPs) for high-school students affected girls’ long-term engagement with the industry, given that they already had interests in technology. Although much research has been done to evaluate how high-school science, technology, engineering, and mathematics programs retain girls in computing fields, it is necessary to see if this same long-term engagement exists in cybersecurity-specific programs. Design/methodology/approach In total, 55 members were surveyed from the aspirations in computing community regarding their experience in and accessibility to high-school CPs. A quantitative analysis of such responses was then undertaken using inferential statistical tools and chi-squared tests for independence. Findings The results showed that the existence of CPs alone are not influential factors in increasing long-term engagement with the field, showcasing that the high-knowledge barrier of CPs affects many students (even those with prior interests in technology). Instead, by having multiple occurrences of these programs and providing more cybersecurity resources to areas that lacked them, girls were more likely to report an increased interest in the field. Practical implications Such information can support future program leaders to develop effective, accessible and more targeted cybersecurity initiatives for students of various communities. Originality/value By analyzing the unique interactions of tech-aspiring women with cybersecurity, this exploration was able to demonstrate that women of different computing experiences face a shared barrier when entering the cybersecurity field. Likewise, in comparing these perspectives across different age groups, the investigation highlighted the development and subsequent growth of cybersecurity programming over the years and why such initiatives should be supported into the future.

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-145
Author(s):  
Marco Curreli ◽  
Sladjana Sandy Rakich

PurposeThe purpose of this commentary is to describe how Omni Nano has designed and implemented a model for teaching Nanotechnology to high school students.Design/methodology/approachThis commentary describes the Omni Nano program and the approach taken to support high school science teachers to include Nanotechnology education in their STEM programs.FindingsThe program findings are determined from qualitative teacher and student program surveys and informal interviews. The strong positive comments indicate that Omni Nano is successful at sparking students’ interest in nanotechnology and teaching nanotechnology concepts effectively.Practical implicationsThe Omni Nano model demonstrates how complex STEM topics such as Nanotechnology can be designed and implemented effectively to promote student learning.Originality/valueAs the field of nanotechnology continues to evolve, high schools will need to provide additional coursework to scaffold student development and meet the demand for nanotech careers. Omni Nano has developed the first nanotechnology curriculum for high school students.


Author(s):  
Timma Dormauli Siallagan ◽  
Syamsurizal Syamsurizal ◽  
Bambang Hariyadi

The purpose of this developmental research was to develop a scientific approach based science worksheet on the dynamic electrical material topic for ninth-grade junior high school students.  The worksheet were developed based on scientific approach. The stages include:  observing, asking questions, gathering information, processing information, and communicating. The development model used is the 4-D Model consists of 4 stages: define,  design, develop, and desimanate. The results of the validation, a small and large group trials indicated that the used of the scientific approach based science worksheet was appropriate for use. Thus, the developed worksheets can be used in the process of learning for Junior high school science students. Keywords : Worksheet , Scientific approach


Author(s):  
Pawan Tyagi ◽  
Christine Newman

Preparing high school students for engineering disciplines is crucial for sustainable scientific and technological developments in the USA. This paper discusses a pre-college program, which not only exposes students to various engineering disciplines but also enables them to consider engineering as the profession. The four-week long “Engineering Innovation (EI)” course is offered every year to high school students by the center of outreach, Johns Hopkins University. EI program is designed to develop problem-solving skills through extensive hands-on engineering experiments. A team consisting of an instructor, generally a PhD in Engineering, and a teaching fellow, generally a high school science teacher, closely work with students to pedagogically inculcate basics of core engineering disciplines such as civil, mechanical, electrical, materials, and chemical engineering. EI values independent problem-solving skills and simultaneously promote the team spirit among students. A number of crucial engineering aspects such as professional ethics, communications, technical writing, and understanding of common engineering principles are inculcated among high school students via well-designed individual and group activities. This paper discusses the model of EI program and its impact on students learning and their preparation for the engineering career.


2005 ◽  
Vol 97 (1) ◽  
pp. 325-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andile Mji ◽  
Zoleka Mbinda

This exploratory study describes high school students' perceptions of their parents' involvement in their education and in relation to school achievement. A new 12-item Parental Involvement Scale was used to measure parents' involvement in curricular and extracurricular activities and using exploratory analyses to estimate the scale's properties. Exploratory analysis resulted in the reduction of the 12 items to 8, with an internal consistency (Cronbach alpha) .82. Grade 12 science students indicated that their less educated parents were involved in activities pertaining to their learning; however, high perceived parental involvement in curricular activities was related to low achievement. It is recommended that further exploratory analyses be undertaken to examine the reported two-dimensional model of the Parental Involvement Scale.


Author(s):  
Locke Davenport Huyer ◽  
Genevieve Conant ◽  
Cindy V. Bui ◽  
Ben G. Kinsella ◽  
Andrea Vegh ◽  
...  

Abstract – With the diverse nature of the biomedical engineering (BME) field, high school students are often limited in their understanding of the area during consideration for post-secondary study. In effort to improve student comprehension, as well as provide a unique learning opportunity in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) curriculum, graduate students at the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering (IBBME; University of Toronto) have developed and launched the IBBME Discovery Program. In strong collaboration with high school educators, graduate student instructors designed and executed activity- and designbased learning focused on applicable topics in BME aligned with Ontario high school science curriculum learning outcomes. Results from this pilot suggest strong student engagement in data-based experimental learning, and graduate student development in knowledge translation and activity design through collaboration.  These results provide a strong foundation for program growth and quantitative assessment.  


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. e0252627
Author(s):  
Frederick Grinnell ◽  
Simon Dalley ◽  
Joan Reisch

Science fairs offer potential opportunities for students to learn first-hand about the practices of science. Over the past six years we have been carrying out voluntary and anonymous surveys with regional and national groups of high school and post high school students to learn about their high school science fair experiences regarding help received, obstacles encountered, and opinions about the value and impact of science fair. Understanding what students think about science fairs will help educators make science fairs more effective learning opportunities. In this paper, we focus on the findings with two national groups of post high school students–undergraduate research fellows (SURF students) who did research at UT Southwestern Medical Center during 2014–2019 and undergraduates biology students attending the 2019 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Science Education Alliance (SEA) summer symposium. About 25% of the students who completed surveys indicated that they had participated in high school science fair, but more than half attended high schools where science fairs were unavailable. Effectively, 6 out of every 10 students participated in science fair if available. Students who could have participated in high school science fair but chose not to do so identified not enough time and coming up with their project idea as major reasons why not. About half the SURF students favored requiring non-competitive science fair regardless whether they themselves had participated in science fair. On the other hand, less than 1 in 5 thought that competitive science fair should be required. Introduction to the scientific process and general learning were mentioned most frequently as the reasons to require non-competitive science fair; these reasons were mentioned rarely in connection with competitive science fair. Unlike the national cohort of high school students we surveyed previously, who mostly did science fair in 9th and 10th grades, SURF students participated in science fair throughout high school and were twice as likely as high school students to have carried out science fair more than once. In conclusion, our findings suggest that participation of the undergraduate bioscience majors in high school science fairs occurs far more frequently than recognized previously and provide insights into how these successful college students (gauged by the fact that they are doing summer science research) view science fairs. The findings emphasize further the importance of incentivizing rather than requiring science fair participation, especially in 9th and 10th grades, and the potential value of developing non-competitive science fairs.


2020 ◽  
Vol 82 (7) ◽  
pp. 463-469
Author(s):  
Sara Raven ◽  
Emel Cevik ◽  
Michael Model

Although research and new technologies have introduced different ways of observing microorganisms, including scanning and electron microscopy, these methods are expensive and require equipment that is typically not found in a middle school classroom. The transmission-through-dye technique (TTD; Gregg et al., 2010), a new optical microscopy method that can be used with current basic light microscopes, relies on the fairly simple mechanism of filtered light passing through a dyed medium to produce an image that reflects cell thickness. With this technique, living microorganisms look bright red against a dark background, and movement can be seen easily among dead microorganisms and debris that show up black. Since the technique is low-cost and easy to implement, it addresses the needs of practitioners and is appropriate for a wide array of school contexts. We describe a three-week, hands-on, inquiry-based unit on TTD microscopy for middle and high school students.


Author(s):  
Rosderia Purba ◽  
Rayandra Asyhar ◽  
Muhammad Rusdi

The purpose of this developmental research was to develop a scientific approach based science worksheet on the dynamic electrical material topic for ninth-grade junior high school students. The worksheet were developed based on scientific approach. The stages include:  observing, asking questions, gathering information, processing information, and communicating. The development model used is the 4-D Model consists of 4 stages: define,  design, develop, and desimanate. The results of the validation, a small and large group trials indicated that the used of the scientific approach based science worksheet was appropriate for use. Thus, the developed worksheets can be used in the process of learning for Junior high school science students. Keywords : Worksheet , Scientific approach


2007 ◽  
Vol 1046 ◽  
Author(s):  
David E. Nikles ◽  
Gregory B. Thompson

AbstractThe Center for Materials for Information Technology provides a ten-week summer research experience in nanoscience and engineering for high school students. The students were between their junior and senior year or their sophomore and junior year and were interested in a career in scientific research. Each student had their own research project within the general theme of metal alloy nanoparticles. They were trained in safe laboratory practice and could prepare their own particles independently. Each used x-ray diffraction and SEM EDX to characterize the structure of their nanoparticles. They also identified potential applications for their particles such as magnetic recording, fuel cell catalysis and cancer therapy. Many of the students accomplished enough research to submit competitive entries to regional and national high school science fairs. Two were semi-finalists in the Siemens-Westinghouse Competition. Another won the West Alabama Science Fair and competed in the Intel International Science Fair. This program provided the high school students with a vision for the breadth and excitement of doing basic research in materials science.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Farida Aryani ◽  
Hillman Wirawan ◽  
Abdul Saman ◽  
Sulaiman Samad ◽  
Muhammad Jufri

PurposeThis study aims at investigating the indirect effect of soft skills on career engagement through the role of psychological capital (PsyCap) in different age groups. The social cognitive theory (SCT) and job demands-resource model (JD-R) were employed to explain the effect of perceived skill mastery on PsyCap and career engagement.Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected from 707 high school students, 150 university students and 165 employees using a three-wave data collection technique. This study measured soft skills, PsyCap and career engagement at different age groups (i.e. high school students, university students and employees). The data were analysed using a moderated-mediation technique.FindingsThe results showed that soft skills positively influenced PsyCap and eventually increased career engagement in all age groups. However, the effect was stronger for students (both in high school and university) than employees in the workplaces. Unlike most students, employees related soft skills to performance. Regardless of the effect on performance, students would be more likely than employees to perceive soft skill mastery as a source of efficacy.Research limitations/implicationsFirst, the education system should direct more attention to developing students' non-cognitive skills. Second, people should understand that their career advancement continues in the workplace context. Organizations can foster employees' soft skills by providing more opportunities to develop new skills.Originality/valueThis study sheds light on the importance of soft skills beyond academic and workplace performance. This study is among the few empirical investigations that reveal career engagement factors across different career development stages.


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