Empowering Future Cyber Defenders: Advancing Cybersecurity Education in Engineering and Computing with Experiential Learning

This research-to-practice full paper describes a cybersecurity education framework aimed at addressing the proliferation of cyber threats such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting, DDoS attacks, and phishing, which necessitate innovative approaches to safeguard global information security. This research proposes an adaptive cybersecurity curriculum incorporating experiential learning strategies such as interactive simulations, hands-on labs, and case studies, initially validated within university environments. Future research will assess their adaptability and effectiveness of these strategies for K-12 education. Advanced concepts like artificial intelligence are distilled into engaging, age-appropriate modules to build both practical and theoretical cybersecurity skills. An experimental study validated the curriculum's effectiveness with test scores increasing from 63.20% to 84.34% and students reporting heightened engagement and deeper conceptual understanding. The experiential level-adaptive design equips learners of all ages with the expertise to proactively secure digital assets and cultivate cybersecurity awareness. Integrating this curriculum across K-12 and higher education will enable academic institutions to produce cybersecurity graduates capable of addressing the evolving complexities of the threat landscape.