Teaching and learning cybersecurity for European youth by applying interactive technology and smart education

Abstract This paper presents a new developed methodology for teaching and learning subjects that although are very important in the modern digital society are neglected in high school education programs: cybersecurity and cyber safety. A Study among the EU high schools in 2021–2022 revealed that computer science teachers are not regularly upgrading their knowledge and do not have cybersecurity topics included in the educational program for computer science and informatics. The development and the implementation of an interactive education program of cybersecurity topics for high school students enabled a flexible approach for teaching cybersecurity to be be implemented in several EU based high schools The new curriculum offer many tools for active learning like interactive videos, quizzes, games, and live cases of cyber threats and in the same time apply the teaching of the aligned protective methods. During the implementation of the cybersecurity education was found that the applied methodology enhances the interactions between the teachers and the students by presenting and discussing examples encountered when using digital services on the internet and by applying several innovative approaches presented in the 24 fiches. The effectiveness of the approach was evaluated through surveys and interviews but final assessment of the acquired student skills was done at the international Capture tThe Flag game contest. In the discussion section the paper provide an assessment of the applied model and recommendations.