A Cyber Security First for Education
MCB Business Partners and Core Electronics, supported by teachers, government, and the cyber security industry, have partnered to create a best in class cyber security learning experience. The Cyber City learning experience supports the new focus on cyber security and digital technologies in the new Australian curriculum, and has been specifically designed to support the new cyber security, specialised topic in the iSTEM NSW Department of Education Approved Elective.
Cyber City is a complete, open source, and industry-aligned set of pedagogical resources and methods to support teachers introducing inquiry-led, cyber security and digital innovation concepts in the classroom. The learning program integrates diverse concepts from the hardware and networking level up to programming and the design and testing of the smart city systems, while enabling students to also develop general capabilities in the Australian curriculum in areas such as systems thinking, design thinking, critical thinking and ethical understanding.
Cyber City – Cyber Security Deliverables
What we are delivering for educators
- Learning Program - the Cyber City learning experience is mapped to the Australian curriculum and fulfils the curriculum requirements for the 10 week NSW iSTEM cyber security module.
- The Cyber City Kit - a modern, extensible set of hardware, electronic and software components providing ease of use and flexibility for teachers and students to design, build and test their own cyber city at home or in the classroom
- Teacher support – A combination of video tutorials, online message boards, telephone support, highly immersive learning resources and, where possible, a cyber security professional buddy is available for teachers who deliver the program.
The Cyber City tech experience for teachers and students
- At its core, the Cyber City experience, built upon Micro:bit, is an advanced information architecture that has been developed with students, teachers, next-gen curriculum and classroom setup in mind.
- Within the Cyber City the students are supported to build, maintain and automate critical infrastructure such as hydro dams, mobile networks, power grids or satellites
- Using the wireless radio on the micro:bit to create a network of connected devices just like in a real smart city, the students explore cyber vulnerabilities and cyber defence concepts relevant to the digital environment in which we live
- What makes this kit special is how a real network is created without the need to connect to the school network or the internet
- Throughout the delivery of the Cyber City build, students will connect their Cyber City journey to fundamental cyber security topics and themes.
An immersive learning experience for educators and students
The Cyber City technology and experience provides an expandable set of activities for students. Activities in Cyber City include:
- How city/rural technology infrastructure works
- How to automate routine work (and the importance of innovation)
- How to connect a hardware device to a network
- How protocols work and data is sent from one device to another
- How cryptology aids cyber security and privacy
- How to identify security vulnerabilities
- Understanding the impact of downtime (costs, affects to people and community)
- How to strengthen encryption
Throughout these activities there are challenges that encourage students to explore cyber security concepts in their own way.
Meet the Cyber City Project Collaborators, become a cyber security Industry Collaborator or let us know if you would like to bring the Cyber City – Cyber Security Learning Experiences into your classroom in 2022 – 2023.
