Thursday, April 14
11:15-11:45 AM
PDT
Tidepool 5

A Narrowing of the CS Knowledge and Confidence Gap in High School Students by Gender

Full Paper (Live Virtual) ID: 59335
  1. aaa
    Yolanda Reimer
    University of Montana
  2. Michael Coe
    Cedar Lake Research Group, LLC

Abstract: The field of computer science continues to be dominated by men despite focused attempts to encourage more participation by women. We suggest that by working to raise the confidence of students in areas of computational thinking and programming, this will positively impact those who continue studying in the field and can help increase the number of women in particular. In this research study, we analyze pre and post-course survey data by gender from 55 high school students in an introductory computer science course. We see that although female students initially have less experience and report lower levels of self confidence in CS topics than males, they make up ground quickly and decisively. By the end of the course, female students have significantly narrowed the knowledge and confidence gap between them and their male counterparts. The implication of this result is that our collective efforts to broaden the field of CS and draw women into these classes can be quite impactful. Parity between genders in terms of knowledge and confidence happens quickly and can subsequently lead to an increased number of women engaging with the field in college and beyond.

Presider: Kolleen Homuth, Central Michigan University

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