The Tech Partnership has launched Countdown to Chaos, a new resource for school students aged 11 – 14, designed to give them a taste of working life in the crucial cyber security industry.
The interactive teaching resource has been created in response to the continuing shortage of new recruits to the sector. By showing students how stimulating, worthwhile and enjoyable life as a cyber security specialist can be, the Partnership hopes to encourage a new generation to consider a career in the profession.
Countdown to Chaos is a first-person simulation, which places students in the role of the Government’s counter-security chief. Racing against the clock, and prompted by a realistic mix of news flashes, instant messaging and challenges, players search out the mastermind behind a planned cyber-attack and stop it in its tracks.
The resource is flexible and can be completed during a half-day workshop, over a series of lessons, or as part of an after-school or lunchtime club. Students can even continue outside the classroom, working externally as part of their homework.
Once students successfully complete the learning and assessment, they earn a specially created open badge from Cisco, the world’s largest networking company. Students aged 13 and over can add the badge to their Mozilla Open Badges backpack – an online portfolio of accredited skills that can be added to CVs and shared with employers.
Countdown to Chaos is entirely free of charge to schools. It forms part of the suite of TechFuture Classroom online learning resources, created by the Tech Partnership to enhance tech and digital learning across the curriculum, and has been created with the generous support of the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).
