Cyber Start America
CyberStart America invites you to play a free, self-paced game built by world leaders in cybersecurity education. Players advance through challenges in the role of a cybersecurity agent investigating cyber gangs. The game includes video demos and tips, enabling students to play, learn, and succeed on their own.
Plus, learning with CyberStart means no textbooks or lectures! Advance your skills in topics like password security, network forensics and steganography with fun challenges and simulations.
Complete as many challenges as you can in CyberStart and you may qualify for scholarship opportunities offered by the National Cyber Scholarship Foundation! Build a portfolio of skills, badges and certifications recognized and desired by employers so you can secure your dream role
Cyber Patriot
CyberPatriot is the National Youth Cyber Education Program created by the Air Force Association to inspire K-12 students toward careers in cybersecurity or other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines critical to our nation’s future. At the core of the program is the National Youth Cyber Defense Competition, the nation’s largest cyber defense competition that puts high school and middle school students in charge of securing virtual networks. Other programs include AFA CyberCamps, an elementary school cyber education initiative, a children’s literature series, CyberGenerations –a senior citizen cyber safety initiative, and a Tech Caregivers program designed to encourage cyber-savvy volunteers to give back to their communities.
ND Cyber Madness
The ND Cyber Madness high school tournament is a friendly competition to get students involved in cybersecurity. With almost a zero percent unemployment rate, jobs in cybersecurity are promising for ND students.
VEX Robotics Competition
All students are natural scientists and engineers. They love to question, tinker, experiment and play. VEX competitions foster these skills and capitalize on the motivational effects of competitions and robotics to help all students create an identity as a STEM learner. VEX competitions are also a great way to expose students to valuable soft skills like communication, collaboration and time-management in a fun and authentic way. The VEX Robotics competition prepares students to become future innovators with 95% of participants reporting an increased interest in STEM subject areas and pursuing STEM-related careers. Tournaments are held year-round at the regional, state, and national levels and culminate at the VEX Robotics World Championship each April!
Organizations
GenCyber
The GenCyber program provides cybersecurity experiences for students and teachers at the secondary level. The goals of the GenCyber program are to:
Ignite, sustain, and increase awareness of K12 cybersecurity content and cybersecurity postsecondary and career opportunities for participants through year-round engagement;
Increase student diversity in cybersecurity college and career readiness pathways at the K-12 level; and
Facilitate teacher readiness within a teacher learning community to learn, develop, and deliver cybersecurity content for the K-12 classroom in collaboration with other nationwide initiatives.
The GenCyber program strives to be a part of the solution to the Nation’s shortfall of skilled cybersecurity professionals. Ensuring that enough young people are inspired to utilize their talents in cybersecurity is critical to the future of our country’s national and economic security as we become even more reliant on cyber-based technology in every aspect of our daily lives.
To ensure a level playing field, GenCyber camps are open to all student and teacher participants at no cost.
Girls Who Code
Girls Who Code is an organization that values diversity, equity, and inclusion as essential to our mission. Girls Who Code welcomes into our community and programs anyone who identifies as female regardless of assignment at birth. Our programs also welcome people who identify as non-binary or gender nonconforming and want to be in a female-identified environment.
FREE (No Cost) Resources
Code.org – Unplugged activities
Unplugged lessons are particularly useful for building and maintaining a collaborative classroom environment, and they are useful touchstone experiences you can refer to when introducing more abstract concepts. Each of these activities can either be used alone or with other computer science lessons on related concepts.
CYBER.org
CYBER.ORG is dedicated to teaching Cyber Education for all students by ensuring that all students receive a cybersecurity education, we build a steady stream of cyber-literate students who are prepared for the workforce. 25,000+ teachers enrolled in CYBER.ORG content from 50 states and 4 US territories 3.4 million students impacted by CYBER.ORG content The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) supports CYBER.ORG through a grant to develop and distribute cyber, STEM, and computer science curricula to educators across the country.
At home activities can be found by selecting the Families tab at the top of the website. Additional activities can be found by selecting Find Curricula.
CS Unplugged
CS Unplugged is a collection of free learning activities that teach Computer Science through engaging games and puzzles that use cards, string, crayons and lots of running around. We originally developed this so that young students could dive head-first into Computer Science, experiencing the kinds of questions and challenges that computer scientists experience, but without having to learn programming first.
Hello Ruby
Hello Ruby is the world’s most whimsical way to learn about computers, technology and programming. The story started with a book, and now Ruby continues her adventures in exercises, activities and videos. It’s suited for kids age 5 years and older (but even adults might learn something new).
Indigenous Resouces
North Dakota is rich in Native American history. The following resources have been curated by EduTech to help bring them directly to educators and students. You will see resources offered at the state and national levels, along with scholarships opportunities and STEM Heroes. You can view these by selecting the title above.
MakeCode
Microsoft MakeCode is a free, open source platform for creating engaging computer science learning experiences that support a progression path into real-world programming.
Minecraft Education Edition
Minecraft: Education Edition is a game- based learning platform that builds STEM skills, unleashes creativity and engages students in collaboration and problem-solving. Minecraft helps educators meet students where they are and inspires deep, meaningful learning across subjects.
Ozobot
Together with thousands of educators, Ozobot has redefined the role of robotics in school–going from STEM labs and supplemental programs to increasing engagement across all grades and subjects, including Math, English Language Arts, and more. Ozobot puts the A in STEAM with 2 Ways to Code–on screens with blocks and screen-free with colors–because STEM skills alone won’t prepare students for the jobs of the future. The company’s mission is to give all children the opportunity to go from consuming to creating with technology. For more information on Ozobot, please visit ozobot.com.
Python
Python is an interpreted high-level general-purpose programming language. Its design philosophy emphasizes code readability with its use of significant indentation. Its language constructs as well as its object-oriented approach aim to help programmers write clear, logical code for small and large-scale projects.
Scratch
Scratch is a high-level block-based visual programming language and website targeted primarily at children 8–16 as an educational tool for programming. Users on the site, called Scratchers, can create projects on the website using a block-like interface.
Scratch Jr
ScratchJr is a visual programming language designed to introduce programming skills to children ages 5–7. By creating projects in ScratchJr, young children can learn to think creatively and reason systematically, despite not being able to read. It is available as a free app for iOS, Android and Chromebook.
Sphero EDU
Sphero is transforming K-12 education with accessible tools that encourage exploration, imagination, and perseverance through STEAM and computer science. With the help of educators around the world, we are empowering learners of all backgrounds and abilities to discover their interests and passions while equipping them with the skills they need to be the world’s future Changemakers.