The Impact of Teacher Gender on Girls’ Performance on Programming Tasks in Early Elementary School

Sullivan, Amanda; Bers, Marina Umaschi

doi:10.28945/4082

Cited by 17 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…The KIBO Mastery Challenges (KMCs) were used to gain insight into students' understanding of the KIBO programming language. The KMCs, a second iteration of the Solve-Its, utilized widely in previous studies (e.g., Sullivan & Bers, 2018;Sullivan, Bers, & Mihm, 2017;Sullivan, Strawhacker, & Bers, 2017), were embedded in the CAL-KIBO curriculum at four different points (at the end of lessons 4, 6, 8 and 12). They assessed students' mastery of the KIBO programming language and programming concepts taught up to that point in the curriculum (See Appendix B for more details about how the KMCs aligned with the curriculum).…”

Section: Kibo Mastery Challenges (Kmc)mentioning

confidence: 99%

If You Can Program, You Can Write: Learning Introductory Programming Across Literacy Levels

et al. 2020

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Aim/Purpose: This paper presents findings on a curricular intervention aimed at integrating computer programming with reading and writing in early elementary school. The purpose of this research was to explore the relation between students’ varying literacy levels and their level of success in mastering an introductory programming language. Methodology: This curricular intervention study was implemented in a single school district in southeastern Virginia. Of the district’s 33 elementary schools, eight schools received an external grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to introduce computer science in early elementary education. Standardized literacy test scores were correlated with internally developed, and age appropriate programming assessment scores from N = 132 second grade students. Contribution: This study is the first of its kind to look at how students at varying literacy levels succeed in mastering an introductory programming language when introduced through a literacy lens. Findings: The findings indicated that there was strong evidence for a weak, positive correlation between students’ literacy levels, as determined by the PALS assessment, and their programming mastery, as determined by the curricular programming assessments. The positive correlation suggests that there may indeed be underlying constructs that overlap between literacy and programming. Recommendations for Practitioners: Consider integrating computer programming as a foundational component of the literacy curriculum, especially in the early grades, where the two skill sets can mutually support one another. Recommendation for Researchers: Additional research is necessary, using a variety of literacy and programming measures, to continue to understand the relationship between emerging literacy and emerging computer programming skills. Impact on Society: Reimagining computer programming as a language has significant implications for how we teach programming in schools and how students then use programming out in the workforce. Future Research: Future work will repeat this curricular intervention with younger students: the district’s first grade and kindergarten classrooms. Introducing programming through the Coding as Literacy (CAL) approach even earlier in students’ literacy trajectories, we believe, will allow the positive impact of programming knowledge to influence students’ literacy development. In this next phase of our research agenda, we will collect pre and post literacy scores, both standardized and internally developed, to see the myriad ways that programming knowledge impacts literacy.

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Section: Kibo Mastery Challenges (Kmc)mentioning

confidence: 99%

If You Can Program, You Can Write: Learning Introductory Programming Across Literacy Levels

et al. 2020

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“…Other research on students majoring in engineering has shown that having female role models may lead to higher levels of perseverance (Amelink & Creamer, 2010). Even at the early childhood and early elementary school level, research by Sullivan and Bers (2018) demonstrates that when girls in grades K-2 had a female robotics instructor they did not exhibit gender differences with boys in performance on programming tasks. However, when they had a male instructor, boys in the study performed statistically significantly better than girls on advanced programming tasks (Sullivan & Bers, 2018).…”

Section: Underrepresentation Of Female Mentors and Studentsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Past research suggests that exposing young children to STEM curriculum early on may prevent them from acting on gender-based stereotypes about STEM careers when they get older (Metz, 2007;Steele, 1997) and may also limit the number of roadblocks they have pursuing these fields down the road (Madill et al, 2007;Markert, 1996). Robotics can be a hands-on way for female students to gain skills in building, coding, engineering, design, and more beginning in early elementary school (Sullivan & Bers, 2016;Sullivan & Bers, 2018). For example, research with the KIBO robot has shown that beginning in early elementary school, boys are already significantly more interested in engineering than girls, and that completing a hands-on KIBO robotics curriculum increased girls' interest in engineering so that this gender difference was eliminated (Sullivan, 2016;Sullivan & Bers, 2018).…”

Section: Gender Disparity In Technology and Engineeringmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Robotics can be a hands-on way for female students to gain skills in building, coding, engineering, design, and more beginning in early elementary school (Sullivan & Bers, 2016;Sullivan & Bers, 2018). For example, research with the KIBO robot has shown that beginning in early elementary school, boys are already significantly more interested in engineering than girls, and that completing a hands-on KIBO robotics curriculum increased girls' interest in engineering so that this gender difference was eliminated (Sullivan, 2016;Sullivan & Bers, 2018).…”

Section: Gender Disparity In Technology and Engineeringmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other research with younger students has supported this idea that a different, non-competitive approach, may be needed to reach female roboticists. Sullivan and Bers (2018) found that implementing a KIBO robotics curriculum that focused on collaboration and helping (students created robots to help improve their school community) was an effective way to increase early elementary girls' interest in engineering.…”

Section: Gender Issues and Robotics Competitionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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VEX Robotics Competitions: Gender Differences in Student Attitudes and Experiences

Sullivan

Bers

2019

JITE:Research

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Aim/Purpose: Educational robotics competitions are a popular way to increase students’ interest in science and engineering during their K-12 years. However, female students are typically underrepresented in these competitions. The goal of this study is to determine differences in the experiences of male and female robotics competition students in order to better support female students and increase their representation in competition leagues. Background: VEX Robotics Competitions are one of the fastest-growing educational robotics competitions available to middle school and high school students around the world. Despite growing numbers of participants, VEX programs have a notice-able lack of female participants. In order to create a more diverse and representative program, it is important to investigate why fewer female students participate in the competitions and what can be done to better support female students. Methodology: Qualitative and quantitative data were collected from VEX mentors and students through online surveys. A total sample of N=675 VEX mentors and students participated (n=47 students and n=628 mentors). The surveys asked scaled, multiple choice, and free response questions. Through these surveys, the following research questions are answered: 1) What (if any) are the differences between male and female student experiences with VEX? 2) What (if any) are the differences in male and female students’ confidence in their technical ability? and 3) What (if any) are the differences in male and female students’ performance on VEX related robotics team tasks? Contribution: This study contributes to the growing body of work on engaging female students, and other underrepresented students, in STEM fields such as programming, engineering, and robotics. Findings: Results demonstrate the male students outnumber female students and male mentors also outnumber female mentors in this sample. Male students are significantly more confident in their general technical ability and their ability to put things together (p<.05) and students of both genders generally wished to have more female students on their teams. Results also indicate that mentors generally perceive their female students as requiring more help and that they are less engaged with construction tasks as compared to male students. Recommendations for Practitioners: VEX mentors should focus on enhancing female students’ confidence with the construction and building aspects of robotics and ensuring they get the same experience with these tasks as male students. They should consider providing supplemental hands-on training sessions, within or outside of regular team sessions, for students who wish to build confidence and experience in these areas. Recommendation for Researchers: Researchers should continue to explore the experiences of female students in robotics competitions, including differences based on grade level, mentor gender, and more. Researchers should additionally look at female students who are not a part of robotics teams (or who have left a robotics team) to understand why these teams do not appeal to them. Impact on Society: Women are still underrepresented in engineering and computer science professions. In order to bridge this gap, it is critical to find effective ways to reach girls in their K-12 years to build their confidence and interest in these fields before they reach college. This study points out critical areas where robotics competition teams should focus on building female students’ confidence. Future Research: The findings in this paper present research from year 1 of a multi-year longitudinal study. Future research will continue to track the mentors and students in this study in order to gain information on retention and change over time.

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A systematic review of the factors affecting girls' participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics subjects

Msambwa,

Daniel,

Lianyu

et al. 2023

Comp Applic In Engineering

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There have been global efforts to achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs) on quality education, gender equality, industry, innovation, and infrastructure development; however, in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), men still dominate these fields at the highest levels, as boys dominate STEM subjects in schools. Thus, there is a need to improve female participation in these fields at all levels. Therefore, this systematic review examined the empirical evidence on the factors affecting girls' participation in STEM subjects. We conducted a comprehensive literature search using electronic databases such as Web of Science, Scopus, EBSCO‐host, and Google Scholar. An analysis of 165 scholarly publications was done using a systematic methodology. The study found that only 10% of the studies indicated that girls' poor participation in STEM could be attributed to personal factors and 61% to environmental factors. Additionally, behavioral factors accounted for 29% of the sampled studies, which found that negative attitudes, lack of career plans, lack of collaboration, interest, poor self‐concept, self‐efficacy, and low motivation were identified as factors that affect girls' participation in STEM subjects. The findings highlight a comprehensive overview of the current knowledge of girls in STEM, providing policymakers, educators, and practitioners with valuable insights into creating an enabling environment that supports more girls in STEM subjects. Furthermore, it contributes to the global efforts to achieve the SDGs 4, 5, and 9.

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The Impact of Teacher Gender on Girls’ Performance on Programming Tasks in Early Elementary School

Cited by 17 publications

References 17 publications

If You Can Program, You Can Write: Learning Introductory Programming Across Literacy Levels

If You Can Program, You Can Write: Learning Introductory Programming Across Literacy Levels

VEX Robotics Competitions: Gender Differences in Student Attitudes and Experiences

A systematic review of the factors affecting girls' participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics subjects

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