NCJ Number
234480
Journal
Security Journal Volume: 24 Issue: 2 Dated: April 2011 Pages: 133-148
Date Published
April 2011
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This article examines the level of knowledge and understanding of experts and novice learners enrolled in the ITE electronic security course in Singapore.
Abstract
The development of understanding in the discipline of security science is just beginning. As the academic research on defining the domain of security science continues, so does the development of learning security-related concepts in the understanding of the knowledge structure. This study has considered a methodology for the portrayal of knowledge structures in the domain of electronic security and its associated concepts. It seeks to examine the understanding of novice learners' perceptions of electronic security concepts through the knowledge structure approach. The multi-dimensional scaling technique has been applied to dissimilarity measures on a selection of concepts from the domain of electronic security. These concepts were considered as key ideas in the learning of electronic security. The formal knowledge structure for electronic security concepts was mapped for an expert group that was most familiar with the understanding of this domain of security science. In addition, two student groups from the Singapore Institute of Technical Education participated in the study, and produced concept maps for the same electronic security concepts. The structures of the novice groups when compared to the expert group lacked the definition of clusters of related concepts, and were interpreted as lacking the understanding of experts in this knowledge domain. (Published Abstract)