Professor of Educational Technology, University of Florida

Associate Professor of Educational Technology, University of Florida

Kara Dawson received funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The material provided here is based on work supported by NSF under Grant #1849768

Pavlo Antonenko received funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The material provided here is based on work supported by NSF under Grant #1849768.

The University of Florida provided funding as a founding partner of The Conversation US.

Three 9-year-old girls huddled around the Caesar wheel, an ancient tool for sharing secret information.

Cracking the code is one of the many challenges the girls complete. These challenges are to help the characters in CryptoComics escape the mysterious online world they are attracted to.

CryptoComics is a course designed to teach elementary school students—especially girls of color—about cybersecurity—the practice of keeping digital information safe—and related occupations. It also teaches cryptography-the science of making and cracking codes. As part of their extracurricular activities in Atlanta, the girls participated in this project.

Led by a team of educators and researchers, CryptoComics strategically integrates digital comic books, applications, and unplugged activities, such as drawing rocks with ancient symbols and making invisible ink. It also contains stories about female cybersecurity professionals. CryptoComics is freely available on cryptocomics.org.

We are all researchers in educational technology and STEM education. We are investigating how the program we have helped to develop can raise awareness of the cybersecurity profession.

The overall goal of the program is to stimulate girls' interest in cybersecurity careers. Although it will take several years to determine whether the plan will achieve the desired results, early studies have shown that participants have found more potential work in the field of cybersecurity than before.

The children who participated in the project told the researchers that they “like the jobs introduced in CryptoComics because they protect us from hackers.” They also like that “you can work in a team to find codes and crack them.”

Cybersecurity touches almost everyone in some way—from adults in the workplace and banking to school children. For example, cybercriminals have been launching cyberattacks on American schools at a record rate — up to two times per school day in 2020. Hackers also target individuals who use public Wi-Fi.

In the foreseeable future, cyber security professionals may be in demand. The federal government predicts that jobs in cyber security and related fields will increase by 33% in the next ten years or so. However, the representation of women in the industry is extremely low, accounting for only 11% of information security analysts.

Part of the reason is that young girls often do not see themselves entering fields such as computer science. But research shows that elementary school students’ attitudes towards STEM careers such as cybersecurity can be changed. CryptoComics aims to bring online safety learning and professional awareness to girls in grades three to five through fascinating after-school courses.

This cartoon designed by media artist DA Jackson began when three friends-Akila, Carly and Bai-found a West African souvenir box belonging to Akila's grandmother. Akila took a picture of the box with her tablet. Suddenly, she and her friends were involved in a mysterious online world.

When Akila told the story, the students followed the girls and her brother Jabari, who communicated with the girls through the tablet. They crack codes and passwords and solve puzzles. They also learn the history of cryptography and the basics of network security to help girls escape the online world.

The six chapters of this comic book range from basic information about codes and symbols to current cyber security practices, such as creating secure passwords. Children explore important historical developments in cryptography methods and technologies, such as Navajo Code Talkers and the WAVES project. Navajo Code Talkers are US Marines of Navajo descent who used their native language to send secret messages via radio waves during World War II. WAVES—Women Volunteer Emergency Services—is a division of the U.S. Navy where female cryptographers worked during World War II.

Children also use various passwords and codes to encrypt and decrypt information. This helps comic characters in online adventures. Activities are based on symbols from different cultures, such as scytale from Greece, hieroglyphs from West African and Native American cultures, and Masonic pigpen codes.

The course ends with games and simulations where children learn about cybersecurity. They learn to protect their devices from someone who hacked the Akila tablet. They learn safe password practices and how to protect themselves from brute force password cracking—that is, use programs or guesses to try every possible combination of passwords; phishing scams that use fake emails to trick people into clicking malicious links; and society Engineering attack.

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For example, when comic characters returned to the British Government Code and Cryptography School (now called GCHQ), they learned social engineering. Here, they met Dorothy, the waitress of WAVES, who turned out to be Akila's grandmother. They also met with Alan Turing, a real-life World War II cryptanalyst.

Dorothy, Allen, and the comic characters use a letter found from the spy to crack the briefcase code. At the same time, the students participating in the course cracked the code through simulation. The students learned that social engineering is a process used by hackers to find passwords based on personal information (such as date of birth or names of family members).

More than 200 elementary school students (73% are girls) from different backgrounds from 16 extracurricular programs in the southeastern United States participated in CryptoComics. Our supervised preliminary research found that children like the lessons, learn how to encrypt and decrypt information in different ways, and show a professional understanding of cybersecurity. They also transfer the knowledge and skills acquired in CryptoComics to real life.

The teacher we talked to also said that for the girls who participated, the course "can change the rules of the game." Teachers report that students “remember quickly” concepts such as encryption and decryption—making and cracking different types of information and codes.

Some students encountered difficulties in reading comic books. They say they want audio support, but they don't want monotonous computer voice. Instead, they want the audio to "behave like a character." Therefore, we hired local voice actors to narrate the comic books.

Those students who have difficulty reading or just like to listen to stories can use narration. The teachers confirmed that “the narrative version of the actual comic book itself is a great help.” It makes the lessons easier for difficult readers.

There are huge career opportunities in the field of cyber security. CryptoComics is just a way to better target young children (especially young girls) to take advantage of these opportunities.

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