Female Students in Computer Science Education: Understanding Stereotypes, Negative Impacts, and Positive Motivation

Abstract

Although teenage girls engage in coding courses, only a small percentage of them plan to pursue Computer Science (CS) as a major when choosing a career path. Gender differences in interests, sense-of belonging, self-efficacy, and engagement in CS are already present at that age. This article presents an overview of gender stereotypes by summarizing the negative impressions female teenagers experience during CS classes and also influences that may be preventing girls from taking an interest in CS. The study draws on published research since 2006 and argues that those findings point to the existence of the stereotypical image of a helpless, uninterested, and unhappy "Girl in Computing". It may be even more troubling a construct than that of the geeky, nerdy male counterpart, as it is rooted in the notion that women are technologically inept and ill-suited for CS careers. Thus, female teenagers think they must be hyper-intelligent as opposed to motivated, interested, and focused to succeed in those fields. To make CS more inclusive for teenage girls, cultural implications, as well as stereotypization in CS classrooms and CS education, need to be considered as harmful and must be eliminated by empowering female teenagers through direct encouragement, mentoring programs, or girls-only initiatives.

“I Think I Am Getting There” Understanding the Computational Identity of Engineering Students Participating in a Computationally Intensive Thermodynamics Course

“…About being a computational person, I don't know. I think I have some valuable, computer science skills that I don’t think I am the best nor the one worst.” Amelia’s negative experiences with instructors, peers, and not being able to be introduced to computational resources early in life lowered her programming ability self-efficacy and made her feel like she does not belong, 39 , 45 however she had a positive attitude toward working persistently to become proficient at computational skills.…”

“…There is a long-enduring stereotype that women are inherently unsuited to be programmers, which can lead to women feeling that they do not belong, having less confidence, or having less motivation to engage with computational project work. 39 , 45 Understanding the experiences of women in computationally-intensive biomedical engineering and biological engineering courses is critical for sustaining and increasing the participation of women in Biomedical engineering as the field continues to become more computationally intensive.…”

Digital Games in Schools: A Qualitative Study on Teacher's Beliefs

“…Computer science is not or cannot always be chosen here due to the lack of opportunities at schools. In addition, computer science is generally afflicted by many prejudices (Spieler et al 2020). Interests, motives, and convictions play a major role in this decision.…”

Gender & Diversitäts-Aspekte in der Informatik: Beispiele aus der Hochschullehre

“…Seit den 1980er Jahren gibt es eine Vielzahl von Studien über die Verhältnisse von Informatik und Gender (Bath et al 2010) (Spieler et al 2020). Die Online-Lehreinheiten wiederum wurden in selbstorganisierten Gruppen bearbeitet und in der darauffolgenden Einheit präsentiert und gemeinsam reflektiert.…”