Purpose The purpose of this study is to present actions and initiatives, developed within the scope of the Empowering Teachers to Trigger Cybersecurity at Schools (ETTCS) CyberTeach Erasmus Project, to enhance cybersecurity literacy through innovative digital content and contemporary Learning Management System (LMS) platform. Design/methodology/approach The concept of cybersecurity literacy has become increasingly crucial in recent years, as the digitization of most human activities is being completed within the framework of the 4th Industrial Revolution. Almost all devices, vehicles and services in the near future will be interconnected to the internet and operate on advanced computing platforms. The benefits of these technological advancements are evident, as are the potential risks. To this end, organized cybercriminals, black hat hackers and state-sponsored actors may attempt, through various cyberattacks, to steal personal data, cause road accidents in connected autonomous vehicles and, in general, disrupt critical infrastructures. Cybersecurity is a growing concern when it comes to digitalization and cloudification. This way, digital assets must be conveniently protected to avoid any concern about their confidentiality, integrity and authentication. Therefore, the ability of every citizen to use the internet and smart devices wisely and securely is one of the most fundamental skills they should possess. In this work, the authors present actions and initiatives, developed within the scope of the ETTCS CyberTeach Erasmus Project, to enhance cybersecurity literacy through innovative digital content and contemporary LMS platform. A new approach to teach cybersecurity, based on innovative teaching methods, is presented to prepare future citizens and their teachers to keep up with cybersecurity issues in an efficient manner. To this end, the authors propose ways to reach cybersecurity literacy, giving use case examples and proposing the necessary digital skills. Findings A new approach to teach cybersecurity, based on innovative teaching methods, is presented to prepare future citizens and their teachers to keep up with cybersecurity issues in an efficient manner. To this end, the authors propose ways to reach cybersecurity literacy, giving use case examples and proposing the necessary digital skills. Originality/value This work demonstrates a new methodology to infuse cybersecurity awareness into teachers so that they can train and prepare their students accordingly. The authors identify the teacher as the critical link between a young generation of digital natives, who consider the internet as a utility, and the most experienced information technology security experts striving to enforce good cybersecurity practices among users.

The Engineering Design Process (EDP) is contemporary teaching method, applicable within STEM framework, and consists of a series of steps that students – as future engineers – follow, in order to design a prototype artifact and find a solution to a complex engineering problem. These steps usually include problem – solving processes, such as defining the problem, background research, specifying requirements, brainstorming, evaluating, choosing the best solution, developing a prototype, testing the prototype and finally communicating the research results. During the process, students engage themselves with all Computational Thinking (CT) dimensions. In this research, we apply EDP, within the STEM and CT Epistemology framework, in order to design and develop an open – hardware, open – source, low – cost, easy and safe to use, drown, for educational activities, in Higher education. The purpose of this work is to highly engage University students, in developing solutions for complex Mechatronic course - related problems, and evaluate how they achieved their learning objectives. We also design a use case scenario, in which students form proper engineering teams to work with the design of the UAV, to program its behavior and to understand avionics. The simple design, safe use, economic cost, and open philosophy of this drone make it suitable not only for university courses, but also for educational robotics applications, and in STEM education in general, regardless of the educational level.

Quantum mechanics is a revolutionary scientific field, which lies at the crossroad section of Physics, Mathematics, Computer and Computational Science. In essence, it is considered a cross-disciplinary STEM field, advancing the philosophy of Quantum Literacy (QL), which addresses the transdisciplinary nature of real world complex problems. QL addresses the challenges of learning and skills acquisition, through specific computing activities, within a highly bounded discipline and of access to the kind of powerful knowledge that should be more accessible to a wide group of learners. It is therefore important that quantum computing and quantum technologies knowledge is accessible to students and teachers who work with real problems, in a more inclusive and interactive way. In this paper, we argue for the necessity of exposing students to new and powerful quantum tools, as provided by cutting edge quantum computing technologies. We do that by proposing contemporary and STEM related activities and gamification scenarios, in which they acquire stronger mathematical and computational - problem decomposition and modelling skills, working as real researchers. By engaging students in games and activities related to quantum computing and quantum information processing, they acquire all necessary knowledge related to: superposition, teleportation, entanglement, quantum gates and quantum information. The serious games proposed in this paper relates to quantum strategic games, necessary for STEM activities to train students within the computational thinking 2.0 framework. All scenarios were implemented using the didactic model of inquiry-based learning using Python libraries.

Research studies provide some evidence that computing and education robotics have a positive impact on female students' engagement in Computational Thinking (CT) practices and their self-efficacy for CT. Other issues raised by research concern the decontextualization of computing education from the actual lives of students which causes problems for students under represented in the fields of computing and engineering, such as female students. To tackle this problem, paper aimed to develop (STEM-Computational Thinking (CT)-Computing) scenarios related to students' actual lives and their local communities in order to help female students to develop STEM(Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) competences, when core disciplinary ideas and cross-cutting concepts are infused in the scenarios. All scenarios were implemented using the didactic model of inquiry teaching and learning and the engineering design thinking instruction strategy using physical computing activities. A validated questionnaire for self-efficacy and CT practices was applied before and after the intervention to female prospective engineering school teachers studying at Higher Education Institutes in Greece. Results show a strong evidence for the effectiveness (enhancement of CT efficacy of female students) by using the STEM content epistemology through activities implemented with physical computing platforms.

Approaches to STEM epistemology are related to the so-called “Integrated STEM Education Curriculum integration of STEM contents based in constructivism theories of learning as a context to implement the STEM epistemology. There are two approaches for STEM education integration: the content integration and the context integration. Computational Pedagogy is a didactic model that applies the Computational Science experiment in order to collect and analyze real- time data in alignment with the practices of Computational Thinking. In this work, the inquiry based teaching and learning strategy is implemented in order to measure the Hubble Universe expansion constant in agreement with the standard Scientific and Engineering practices as a computational experiment.

Popular interest in robotics has increased significantly over the last years. It has been claimed that robotics can provide new benefits to the learning process at all levels of education. The main ideas of the present study adhered to the constructionist theory, according to which the learning process is not only transmitted from teacher to pupil, but rather constructed in the mind of the pupil in the form of active learning. The purpose of the present study was to implement a robotic toy (Lego Mindstorms NXTTM) in a Greek primary school, in order to teach twelve year-old children some of the basic concepts of geometry. The main hypothesis of the present study was that children who used the Lego Mindstorms NXT platform would score higher on an evaluation questionnaire than children who formed the control group. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed in order to evaluate the correct answers of the questionnaires. Statistical analysis revealed that children who participated in the experimental group performed better in the 21 items of the questionnaire. Moreover, they mentioned that the geometry course became more interesting and drew their attention in comparison to the courses that were taught through the standard teaching process. It is apparent that the present study follows the line of inquiries that supports that robotics can make a significant impact to education. Robots can be a tool that can enhance the skills of children.