Girls get it

Abstract

In this article, we describe high school promotional visits and campus workshops developed to encourage female junior high school students to consider a career in information technology. The students were exposed to programming concepts and activities in a manner that made such content enjoyable and relatively easy to understand and were given pre and post workshop questionnaires. Students perceived programming as simpler and themselves as being more capable after attending these workshops. The article demonstrates the potential for such workshops to address aspects of perceived difficulty and of self-perceptions in ability to master such content.

Blended Implementation of Existing Precollege Engineering Programs: Teacher Perspectives of Program Impact

“…Educational robots have been shown to help students reach an understanding that allows them to construct knowledge and enhance their critical thinking skills [37]. Several studies have shown educational robotics catalyzing a significant increase in students' creativity, interest, confidence, and motivation to learn STEM concepts and pursue studies in computer science and engineering [2], [38], [39], [40], [41]. This includes studies that have additionally found educational robotics to be an effective tool for broadening participation and sparking interest for females [41], [42], minorities [43], [44], and other groups that are historically under-represented in STEM fields [45], [46].…”

Gender Imbalance in Undergraduate IT Programs – A Vietnamese Perspective

“…There has been a measured gender imbalance in students enrolling in computing and related degrees since the early 1980s. Research suggests that the average participation of females in undergraduate cohorts is between 15-30% (Redwood-Sawyerr 1995, McGrath Cohoon & Baylor 2003, Mason et al 2011.…”

“…All argued that as a direct result of reduced IT education, the number of females are under-represented in IT worldwide (Pretorius & de Villiers 2009). This is concerning as there are significant advantages for recruiting women in the IT workforce (Mason et al 2011) including: Expert input to women's only IT products.…”

“…Unfortunately, increasing the number of females in IT and Engineering is too often given low priority or neglected and hence the issue propagates and compounds over time (Mbarika et al 2003, Mason et al 2011.…”