Girls and Computing: Female participation in computing in Schools
Abstract
Computer education, with a focus on computer science, has become a core subject in the Australian Curriculum and the focus of national innovation initiatives. Equal participation by girls, however, remains unlikely based on their engagement with computing in recent decades. In seeking to understand why this may be the case, a Delphi consensus process was conducted using a wide range of experts from industry and academia to explore existing research and interventions, recommending four key approaches: engaging girls in the Digital Technologies curriculum; addressing parental preconceptions and influences; providing positive role models and mentors; and supporting code clubs for girls. Unfortunately, all of these approaches have been widely implemented, and while individually successful at the scale of their implementation, have failed to systemically improve female participation in computing. The only discernable difference between initiatives to improve female participation in computing and the successful approaches in other fields such as science, has been the availability of a compulsory developmental curriculum beginning from the start of school, that may provide a scaffold that sustain female engagement over critical periods such as adolescence, when participation in computing begins to dramatically decline.References
Aynsley, B. (2015, April 14). Equipping kids with digital skills key to future success. The Australian Business Review. Retrieved from http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/technology/equipping-kids-with-digital-skills-key-to-future-success/story-e6frgb0o-1227302409131
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/emp/tables.htm
Brotman, J., & Moore, F. (2008). Girls and science: A review of four themes in the science education literature. Journal of research in science teaching, 45(9), 971.
Cheryan, S., Master, A., & Meltzoff, A. (2015). Cultural stereotypes as gatekeepers: increasing girls’ interest in computer science and engineering by diversifying stereotypes. Frontiers in psychology, 6.
Christoph, G., Goldhammer, F., Zylka, J., & Hartig, J. (2015). Adolescents' computer performance: The role of self-concept and motivational aspects. Computers & Education, 81, 1-12.
Code.Org. (2015). Summary of source data for Code.org infographics and stats. Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gySkItxiJn_vwb8HIIKNXqen184mRtzDX12cux0ZgZk/pub
Google. (2014). Women Who Choose Computer Science - What Really Matters. Retrieved November 2, 2015, from http://static.googleusercontent.com/media/www.wenca.cn/en/us/edu/pdf/women-who-choose-what-really.pdf.
Gras-Velazquez, A., Joyce, A., & Debry, M. (2009). Women and ICT: Why are girls still not attracted to ICT studies and careers?. European Schoolnet.
Lang, C. (2012). Sequential attrition of secondary school student interest in IT courses and careers. Information Technology & People, 25(3), 281-299.
Moakler, M., & Kim, M. (2014). College Major Choice in STEM: Revisiting Confidence and Demographic Factors. The Career Development Quarterly, 62(2), 128-142.
National Science Board (2012), Science and Engineering Indicators. Retrieved from http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind12/
National Science Foundation. (2015). Retrieved from http://nsf.gov/statistics/2015/nsf15311/digest/theme2.cfm#compsci
Nelson, B. (2014). The data on diversity. Communications of the ACM, 57(11), 86-95.
NPR (2015). When Women Stopped Coding. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2014/10/21/357629765/when-women-stopped-coding
OECD (2015), The ABC of Gender Equality in Education: Aptitude, Behaviour, Confidence, PISA, OECD Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264229945-en
Osunde, J., Windall, G., Bacon, L., & Mackinnon, L. (2014). Female Underrepresentation in Computing Education and Industry - A Survey of Issues and Interventions. International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications, 5(10).
Pechtelidis, Y., Kosma, Y., & Chronaki, A. (2015). Between a rock and a hard place: women and computer technology. Gender and Education, 27(2), 164-182.
Pyne, C. (2015, September 18). A new national curriculum from 2016. [Press release]. Canberra, Australia: AGPS. Retrieved from https://ministers.education.gov.au/pyne/new-national-curriculum-2016
Shorton, B. (2015, May 14). Budget Reply Speech. [Speech]. Canberra, Australia: AGPS. Retrieved from http://www.alp.org.au/budget_reply_speech
Spencer, L. (2015, February 20). Turnbull calls for earlier introduction of coding in schools. ZDNet. Retrieved from http://www.zdnet.com/article/turnbull-calls-for-earlier-introduction-of-coding-in-schools/
Trauth, E. M., Quesenberry, J. L., & Morgan, A. J. (2004). Understanding the underrepresentation of women in IT: toward a theory of individual differences. Proceedings of the 2004 SIGMIS conference on Computer personnel research: Careers, culture, and ethics in a networked environment. ACM.
Turnbull, M. (2014, October 24). The Importance of Tech Education in Our Schools. [Speech]. Canberra, Australia: AGPS. Retrieved from http://www.malcolmturnbull.com.au/media/speech-the-importance-of-tech-education-in-our-schools
Yansen, G., & Zukerfeld, M. (2014). Why Don’t Women Program? Exploring Links between Gender, Technology and Software. Science Technology & Society, 19(3), 305-329.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
