Quantum computing and cybersecurity aren’t subjects most high school students encounter in the classroom. Worcester Polytechnic Institute hopes to change that.
Researchers at WPI have received a $600,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to launch a three-year initiative that will train high school STEM teachers from across the country to teach quantum information science and cybersecurity — fields expected to play an increasingly important role in the nation’s technology workforce.
Rather than working directly with students, the project focuses on educators, giving them the knowledge, research experience and curriculum they need to introduce complex emerging technologies in ways that are accessible to teenagers.
“We want to expose high school students to these important, but sometimes challenging, topics as soon as possible,” Jun Dai, an associate professor in WPI’s Department of Computer Science and the project’s principal investigator, said in the university’s announcement. “The most effective way to do that is to provide teachers with instruction and research experiences that will prepare them to take their knowledge back to classrooms.”
Dai and Xiaoyan “Sherry” Sun, also an associate professor in the Department of Computer Science, will develop an entirely online program serving 10 high school STEM teachers each year. By the end of the grant, the researchers expect to have trained 30 teachers from around the United States.
Participants complete independent coursework before taking part in a six-week summer program that includes instruction, research training, project planning and curriculum development. Teachers will also participate in research exploring how artificial intelligence tools and gamification — using game design concepts to enhance learning — can improve instruction in quantum computing and cybersecurity.
After completing the program, participants will remain connected with future cohorts, creating a national network of educators focused on emerging technology instruction.
“We have found that training teachers is an efficient and effective way to bring knowledge, inspiration, and information to high school students,” Sun said in the announcement. “When we train teachers, they convert their knowledge about highly technical topics into curriculum and lesson plans that high school students can understand and absorb. Teachers have also shown that they can do research with us, publish findings, and spread their knowledge about cybersecurity instruction to other teachers.”
The new initiative builds on the researchers’ previous work in cybersecurity education and workforce development. According to WPI, Dai and Sun have helped lead federally funded GenCyber teacher camps, co-developed the National Cybersecurity Teaching Academy and participated in national collaborations focused on artificial intelligence, secure software development and cybersecurity training.
Both researchers joined the WPI faculty in 2023 after earning doctoral degrees from Pennsylvania State University.
