Cybertraps Podcast

[00:00:00] Welcome to the cyber traps podcast. I am Jethro Jones. Your host. You can find me on all the social networks at Jethro Jones. The cyber chaps podcast is a proud member. Of the be podcast network. You can see all of our shows at two B podcast. dot network. And today on the show we have. A special interview from the inch 360 conference.

That's the inland Northwest cybersecurity hub. They put on a conference each year and I have the great fortune of being able to go. Go to that conference. And interview a bunch of people. So that's what you're going to hear on this episode. I hope you enjoy it. And if you want. To learn more about inch 360, go to inch 360 dot O R G.

All right, well, we are here for the Cybertrops podcast for Inch360. We're here at the conference at the beautiful Gonzaga campus, and we have Briget Duncan here from Washington Alliance for Better Schools. Why don't you tell us a little bit about what that [00:01:00] is and what you're doing at a cybersecurity conference?

Yeah, so, Washington Alliance for Better Schools leads partnerships with school districts and industry and community leaders to ensure students farthest from opportunity can pursue a future that embraces their strengths, passions, and dreams. My role is to help connect industry leaders with Spokane Public School District Elementary and Middle Schools for our STEM for Good programming.

It's free after school programming, once a week. for running about four weeks for an hour and a half. And the impact that industry leaders has on the students being able to see themselves in these roles is very impactful. Um, so these industry partners come through, we provide the curriculum and, students have an, an opportunity to go through the design process and really start feeling confident about their ability to dig deeper into issues and come up with solutions.

So there's a curriculum, so they're doing something, and then the [00:02:00] industry leaders are there to support and help, the kids, or are they just there to say, you know, represent the industry? What is their role in that? Because they're not certified teachers, and so, you know, they may not know how to interact with kids.

So what do they do in that regard?

Right. So we provide all of the training, all of the lesson plans and material. Um, we do a, as I said, a training with the industry volunteer. to make sure that they're comfortable with what they're teaching. We also have a representative of each school there to help with any need, classroom management, supervision, those types of things.

Um, so they don't have to be teachers. They have an opportunity to showcase themselves and their organization in a way that how, how they got interested, what, what got them started. So kids can start asking questions and identify real people with STEM. yeah, and then they lead the students through that curriculum.

They don't have to plan it, they don't have to, you know, prepare for it. they have all the tools that they need to be successful with the students.

[00:03:00] And what I like about these types of programs is that they give students an opportunity to do something typically that's real, as opposed to something that is made up where the teacher is the audience, right?

And when the teacher is the audience, then it doesn't matter. And when somebody else, anybody else is the audience, then it does matter, even if that audience is their peers. How do, what's your perception of that?

Well, I think it's there's many levels here. I think taking them being in their school environment.

It's a safe place It's it's a place that they're comfortable for a stranger to come in But then to be able to spend time over a few weeks with a real person who is making Connections for them and helping them see how this isn't just a lesson in a classroom. But this is real This is the real world.

This is a part of something that you can do if you're passionate about it I also I love the opportunity it provides for students to work as a team, outside of their typical classroom because, it could be a mixture of, for elementary, third, fourth, and fifth [00:04:00] graders that may be out of their typical classroom day.

It has many layers of impact on the students. It really helps with their confidence to, come across a challenge and then have opportunities to design something and then try it out and then make adjustments and keep furthering it with support of their, um, their peers and support of the volunteers helping run.

And then they have an opportunity on the last week to showcase their designs and they invite family and friends to come be a part of that.

And so what are some of the things that they are creating, uh, in this, in these projects?

okay too. So the curriculum changes, uh, we have, we have fall, winter, and spring.

If a student were to start in third grade, let's say, they can go all the way through middle school and never repeat that curriculum. So there is a variety, but I know, I believe last spring they did a lesson called Hop to It. they were studying invasive species and coming up with solutions that were, a positive impact on the environment, but also, so they built these traps, and they [00:05:00] all came up with their own, using the engineering process, they all came up with their own methods of trapping without hurting these frogs, and, in reading the, the post event surveys from the students, the excitement on the fact, their, what is your favorite part, they love, I love my trap, I love building the traps, I loved playing with the frogs and trying to, see that my project actually worked.

And some of them would say, well, mine wasn't very good, but so and so's was amazing. So it was really neat to see them collectively working together and supporting one another.

One of the other things that I love about this type of approach is that it helps kids see what their skills are and where their interests are.

And A lot of times in school, everybody does the exact same thing. And you, you don't have these opportunities to see like, building a trap is actually really fascinating to me. And I want to go deeper into that arena. And how can I expand that into different areas? That's the kind of stuff that I really love is that, in schools, so much of the, the [00:06:00] work is, Doing assessments, taking tests, filling out worksheets, things like that.

That's all very like, singular in its focus. And when you can bring in other projects like this, it becomes a really powerful thing for them to say, I had never thought that there could be a job where I build traps. And now like, that's all that I want to do.

Yeah, I think that that is part of the experience.

I also think it's a safe space for them to put themselves out there and be vulnerable, because they're coming up with their own ideas. Is it, what if I mess up? What if I don't? Well, it's okay because it's a safe space to maybe fail at the original idea, but then dive deeper into solutions. And, and what we love about these programs and these opportunities They can be applied to any area of life, you know?

So, whether they end up pursuing a career in STEM is not the point. The exposure, like you said, is giving them an opportunity to try things that they've never done, but also to test their skills and their abilities that they [00:07:00] may have not tapped into. Yeah,

And being able to have those different experiences is incredibly valuable at any stage in your learning journey.

but especially as you're thinking about at that age, what could I possibly want to do? And I remember in middle school for me, I thought I need to be either a teacher, a lawyer, a doctor, or a public servant, like a firefighter, police officer, paramedic, something like that, or a doctor. And that, that, those were the jobs I thought existed.

And I didn't realize how many more jobs there are out there than those things. And it took me a long time to figure that out. And I just didn't have the kind of experiences that took me to see the other things were happening. So in closing, can you tell us how people can get connected and volunteer with wabs or wabs?

Yes, so you can go to the website, wabsalliance. org, um, and there's a volunteer link where we're seeking [00:08:00] industry experts to come in and give a little time to our students in Spokane Public Schools.

Well, Bridget, thank you so much for being, uh, here at Inch360 and for taking the time with us on the Cybertraps

podcast.

Thank you. Thank you very much.