Viewing video-taped role models improves female attitudes toward computer science

A study in engaging female students in computer science using role models

“…Many initiatives that aim to inspire girls do so by having students meet real computer scientists, like Microsoft's Digigirlz [6], Carnegie Mellon's Women@SCS Roadshows [9] and The Digital Divas programme in Victoria, Australia [12]. Other programmes do not rely on the role models actually being present -using video for example [16,17] -this experience, though more remote, is more easily scaled and disseminated. Still additional research shows that changing objects in a computer science classroom or laboratory from being stereotypically computer science-like (i.e., interpreted as male; such as Star Trek posters and video games) to more neutral items (e.g., nature posters) raised female students' interest in computer science to levels comparable to that of male students [2].…”

“…Of these schools, 50 were secondary/6th form schools (meaning students attend them from the ages of [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. Eight were 6th form only (education from [16][17][18], seven were secondary only (from 11-16), one school was primary/secondary (from 5-16) and three offered education for all age groups from 5-18. There were 62 state schools and seven were independent.…”

“…In this paper, we describe our recent contribution to these effortsa 60-page 'fun' booklet, published in May 2010, aimed at secondary school students (ages [14][15][16][17][18]. The booklet tells the stories of contributions made by women in computing, and gives some examples of the research accomplishments made by contemporary women who have devoted their careers to computing.…”

People who make a difference

“…Observational role models do not know students or ever meet them face-toface. Several sources [15,16,19] recommend the Use of video role modeling, as an example of observational role modeling and as a supplement to the traditional mentor-asrole-model paradigm. In <http://acad.depauw.edu/-gct/hostpar/video.htm>, students produced a video about their own lives in computing and their dreams for the future and an additional video <http ://acad.depauw.edu/-gct/home/ video.htm> about female computer scientists (who graduated from their university) in the workforce.…”

“…Descriptions of several global programs appear in [4,7]; therefore, we list only two additional projects: • Systers-students: a mailing list for electronic mentoring of women studying computer science and related areas -to join, send mail to <systers-students-request@cs.umass.edu> • MentorNet <http://www.mentornet.net/>: pairs young women with female scientists and engineers for a yearlong, e-mentoring relationship This program combines the following M & R M activities and actions. • Customary activities: affirmative action hiring of female lab instructors; lab instructor training sessions involving gender issues in the classroom; female teaching assistants (role models) helping with collaborative activities in introductory classes; an ACM-W student chapter [7]; summer research with female students; panel presentations by alumnae; and a pizza lunch series for women students (example theme: summer research) • Special activities involving other schools: -CRA-W Lecture Series [7] (joint effort with Purdue University and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology); -An alliance with female computer science majors in two neighboring schools (Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and Butler Universities), providing a larger network of role models and social support; -A n electronic discussion group (including women from neighboring schools); and -Participation in summer workshops for high school girls • Publications and productions: video role-modeling project [19]; newsletters for women in computer science (also mailed to all first-year women); web biographies <http://acad.depauw.edu/-gct/home/succeed.htm>; and a brochure that depicts role models • Extending gender issues into the regular computer science classroom: -General-education, service learning class whose focus is the Digital Divide Our students (and role models) assisted local fifth graders in developing Web pages. The older students also reviewed the literature of gender issues in computer science to report causes and solutions for declining numbers of women.…”