Building girls’ confidence in digital literacies at tech camp

Abstract

This quantitative study investigates the capacity of a girls’ summer technology camp, Girls Go Digital, to foster girls’ confidence with and interest in STEM subjects. Following in the lineage of compositionists’ local technofeminist camps to promote girls’ digital literacies (Haas, Tulley, & Blair, 2002; Blair et al., 2011; Almjeld & England, 2015; Macdowell, 2015; Mathis et al., 2016; England & Canella, 2018; Almjeld, 2019), Girls Go Digital is designed to reach girls who may feel discouraged by the environment of the company's mixed gender tech camps. Girls’ confidence is an important target for technofeminist outreach, as it's confidence more than skill that predicts girls’ and women's persistence in STEM. The study's results find that a week of camp at Girls Go Digital led to statistically significant positive impacts on girls’ confidence in their technology skills, as well as their attitudes relating to technology. Camp staff's intentional building of girls’ confidence and interests suggest promising tactics for future technofeminist interventions.