Pub Date : 2015-10-12DOI: 10.1109/RESPECT.2015.7296502
M. Parker, M. Guzdial
Privilege is an unearned, unasked-for advantage gained because of the way society views an aspect of a student's identity, such as race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, and language. Privilege may provide advantages to some students, and under-privileged students may face unfair barriers to success in education. We review and analyze existing research on privilege in STEM and computing with a focus on identifying privilege and inequality and noting and measuring the impact of privilege and underprivilege. There is more literature on privilege in the broader fields of general and STEM education than in computing education, so we use the superset to identify gaps in our understanding of privilege in computing education. We conclude with research questions that emerge from the gaps in the literature.
{"title":"A critical research synthesis of privilege in computing education","authors":"M. Parker, M. Guzdial","doi":"10.1109/RESPECT.2015.7296502","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/RESPECT.2015.7296502","url":null,"abstract":"Privilege is an unearned, unasked-for advantage gained because of the way society views an aspect of a student's identity, such as race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, and language. Privilege may provide advantages to some students, and under-privileged students may face unfair barriers to success in education. We review and analyze existing research on privilege in STEM and computing with a focus on identifying privilege and inequality and noting and measuring the impact of privilege and underprivilege. There is more literature on privilege in the broader fields of general and STEM education than in computing education, so we use the superset to identify gaps in our understanding of privilege in computing education. We conclude with research questions that emerge from the gaps in the literature.","PeriodicalId":203790,"journal":{"name":"2015 Research in Equity and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT)","volume":"65 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117069662","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2015-10-12DOI: 10.1109/RESPECT.2015.7296498
W. Dubow, Laurie James-Hawkins
This paper reports preliminary findings from a multi-year study of young women who showed interest in applying for an award that recognizes high school females' computing-related interests and achievements, the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) Aspirations in Computing Award. The research sample includes two groups: Awardees and non-Awardees. This mixed-methods study consists of a social cognitive career theory (SCCT) survey instrument, as well as interviews and focus groups exploring themes of confidence, self-efficacy, a sense of belonging, and perceived supports and barriers to being involved in computing. This paper describes results from the first survey and select demographics from the two groups, Awardees (n=691) and Non-Awardees (n=760), along with preliminary analyses of the qualitative data gathered thus far.
{"title":"What influences female interest and persistence in computing? Preliminary findings from a multi-year study","authors":"W. Dubow, Laurie James-Hawkins","doi":"10.1109/RESPECT.2015.7296498","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/RESPECT.2015.7296498","url":null,"abstract":"This paper reports preliminary findings from a multi-year study of young women who showed interest in applying for an award that recognizes high school females' computing-related interests and achievements, the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) Aspirations in Computing Award. The research sample includes two groups: Awardees and non-Awardees. This mixed-methods study consists of a social cognitive career theory (SCCT) survey instrument, as well as interviews and focus groups exploring themes of confidence, self-efficacy, a sense of belonging, and perceived supports and barriers to being involved in computing. This paper describes results from the first survey and select demographics from the two groups, Awardees (n=691) and Non-Awardees (n=760), along with preliminary analyses of the qualitative data gathered thus far.","PeriodicalId":203790,"journal":{"name":"2015 Research in Equity and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT)","volume":"108 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115651022","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2015-10-12DOI: 10.1109/RESPECT.2015.7296506
T. Price, J. Albert, Veronica Catété, T. Barnes
The Beauty and Joy of Computing (BJC) is a curriculum for the new AP Computer Science Principles course. Over the past 2 years, we have collected post-course surveys from 399 students participating in the BJC course. This paper investigates how the responses of females and students from underrepresented racial minority groups (URMs) differed from those of their counterparts. We found that female students had taken fewer CS courses prior to BJC but that students from URMs had taken more prior CS courses. Both groups were nearly equally likely to recommend the course to a friend, with about 80% recommending. We found no evidence to suggest that female students showed more or less interest in specific CS topics, such as learning how computing has changed the world or making mobile apps/games. Despite having taken more CS courses prior to BJC, we found that students from URMs were overall less likely to intend to take additional CS courses. Overall, our findings are fairly consistent with the literature, and suggest that BJC makes some progress towards broadening participation in computing.
{"title":"BJC in action: Comparison of student perceptions of a computer science principles course","authors":"T. Price, J. Albert, Veronica Catété, T. Barnes","doi":"10.1109/RESPECT.2015.7296506","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/RESPECT.2015.7296506","url":null,"abstract":"The Beauty and Joy of Computing (BJC) is a curriculum for the new AP Computer Science Principles course. Over the past 2 years, we have collected post-course surveys from 399 students participating in the BJC course. This paper investigates how the responses of females and students from underrepresented racial minority groups (URMs) differed from those of their counterparts. We found that female students had taken fewer CS courses prior to BJC but that students from URMs had taken more prior CS courses. Both groups were nearly equally likely to recommend the course to a friend, with about 80% recommending. We found no evidence to suggest that female students showed more or less interest in specific CS topics, such as learning how computing has changed the world or making mobile apps/games. Despite having taken more CS courses prior to BJC, we found that students from URMs were overall less likely to intend to take additional CS courses. Overall, our findings are fairly consistent with the literature, and suggest that BJC makes some progress towards broadening participation in computing.","PeriodicalId":203790,"journal":{"name":"2015 Research in Equity and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT)","volume":"9 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114858517","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2015-10-12DOI: 10.1109/RESPECT.2015.7296499
Ama Nyame-Mensah
There is growing concern about the supply of computing graduates who intend to pursue research careers. A pool of talent from which future computing research professionals could be drawn are underrepresented racial-ethnic minority (REM) students (e.g., African Americans and Hispanics), who comprise a growing share of the college-age population but are disproportionately represented at higher levels of the computing research pipeline. This paper explores how undergraduate research experiences may improve the graduate degree intentions of computing undergraduates. Findings suggest that minority status is related to increased intentions to pursue graduate study in computing among all students, and this association is strongest for REM students. Further analyses reveal that psychosocial skills and behaviors that are attained through undergraduate research explain this relationship. These results contribute to the growing literature that seeks to identify which contexts and interventions are effective in improving REM students' intentions for graduate study and capacity for research careers.
{"title":"Strengthening the computing research pipeline through minority participation: The case for undergraduate research experiences","authors":"Ama Nyame-Mensah","doi":"10.1109/RESPECT.2015.7296499","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/RESPECT.2015.7296499","url":null,"abstract":"There is growing concern about the supply of computing graduates who intend to pursue research careers. A pool of talent from which future computing research professionals could be drawn are underrepresented racial-ethnic minority (REM) students (e.g., African Americans and Hispanics), who comprise a growing share of the college-age population but are disproportionately represented at higher levels of the computing research pipeline. This paper explores how undergraduate research experiences may improve the graduate degree intentions of computing undergraduates. Findings suggest that minority status is related to increased intentions to pursue graduate study in computing among all students, and this association is strongest for REM students. Further analyses reveal that psychosocial skills and behaviors that are attained through undergraduate research explain this relationship. These results contribute to the growing literature that seeks to identify which contexts and interventions are effective in improving REM students' intentions for graduate study and capacity for research careers.","PeriodicalId":203790,"journal":{"name":"2015 Research in Equity and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT)","volume":"36 4","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"120966074","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2015-10-12DOI: 10.1109/RESPECT.2015.7296494
Barbara Ericson, Tom McKlin
The goal of Project Rise Up 4 CS is to increase the number of African American students that pass the Advanced Placement (AP) Computer Science (CS) A exam. The African American pass rate on the exam is the lowest nationally of any ethnic/racial group. The project offers extra help sessions, near-peer role models, competitions, financial incentives, and a community of learners. Project Rise Up 4 CS was first offered during the spring of 2013 at Georgia Tech and that year a record number of African American students passed the exam in Georgia. While we don't claim that Project Rise Up 4 CS was responsible for this record, participants did report a statistically significant pre-to-post increase in attitudes towards computing and a large increase in their perception of their ability to pass the exam. This paper reports on the second iteration of this project where we repeated the project in Georgia and replicated it in Maryland. Using mixed methods, we explore the effectiveness of the project and our design hypotheses by examining changes in attitudes and participant reactions to the project components.
Rise Up 4cs项目的目标是增加通过AP计算机科学A考试的非裔美国学生的数量。非裔美国人的考试通过率是全国所有族裔/种族群体中最低的。该项目提供额外的帮助课程、同伴榜样、竞赛、经济奖励和学习者社区。2013年春天，佐治亚理工学院(Georgia Tech)首次推出了Rise Up 4cs项目，那一年，乔治亚州通过该考试的非裔美国学生人数创下了纪录。虽然我们并不认为Rise Up 4cs项目是造成这一记录的原因，但参与者确实报告说，从统计上看，他们对计算机的态度在考试前有了显著的提高，他们对自己通过考试的能力的认知也有了很大的提高。这篇论文报告了这个项目的第二次迭代，我们在乔治亚州和马里兰州重复了这个项目。使用混合方法，我们通过检查态度的变化和参与者对项目组成部分的反应来探索项目的有效性和我们的设计假设。
{"title":"Helping African American students pass advanced placement computer science: A tale of two states","authors":"Barbara Ericson, Tom McKlin","doi":"10.1109/RESPECT.2015.7296494","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/RESPECT.2015.7296494","url":null,"abstract":"The goal of Project Rise Up 4 CS is to increase the number of African American students that pass the Advanced Placement (AP) Computer Science (CS) A exam. The African American pass rate on the exam is the lowest nationally of any ethnic/racial group. The project offers extra help sessions, near-peer role models, competitions, financial incentives, and a community of learners. Project Rise Up 4 CS was first offered during the spring of 2013 at Georgia Tech and that year a record number of African American students passed the exam in Georgia. While we don't claim that Project Rise Up 4 CS was responsible for this record, participants did report a statistically significant pre-to-post increase in attitudes towards computing and a large increase in their perception of their ability to pass the exam. This paper reports on the second iteration of this project where we repeated the project in Georgia and replicated it in Maryland. Using mixed methods, we explore the effectiveness of the project and our design hypotheses by examining changes in attitudes and participant reactions to the project components.","PeriodicalId":203790,"journal":{"name":"2015 Research in Equity and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT)","volume":"202 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134536160","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2015-10-12DOI: 10.1109/RESPECT.2015.7296504
G. C. Townsend, K. Sloan
Using funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), DePauw University launched a program for low-income, first-generation scholars in STEM fields - Julian Scholars. All but one of the undergraduate students began college expressing interest in medical careers, yet over half of the STEM graduates now pursue computer science graduate degrees or computing careers - an important statistic, as little research about recruiting and retaining under represented low-income, first-generation computing students exists. The program predicts a 100% graduation rate, although two of the Julian Scholars left the program to study English. Cornerstones of the program include a week-long summer research experience bridging high school and college, common classes for each cohort, mentoring, one-on-one resume and internship/research counseling, and scholarships. Rockman et al surveyed the Julian Scholars about the bridge program and additional program components to provide quantitative data and also held focus groups to collect qualitative data to augment graduation rates and post-graduation career information.
{"title":"Julian scholars: Recruiting and graduating low-income, first-generation computer science majors","authors":"G. C. Townsend, K. Sloan","doi":"10.1109/RESPECT.2015.7296504","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/RESPECT.2015.7296504","url":null,"abstract":"Using funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), DePauw University launched a program for low-income, first-generation scholars in STEM fields - Julian Scholars. All but one of the undergraduate students began college expressing interest in medical careers, yet over half of the STEM graduates now pursue computer science graduate degrees or computing careers - an important statistic, as little research about recruiting and retaining under represented low-income, first-generation computing students exists. The program predicts a 100% graduation rate, although two of the Julian Scholars left the program to study English. Cornerstones of the program include a week-long summer research experience bridging high school and college, common classes for each cohort, mentoring, one-on-one resume and internship/research counseling, and scholarships. Rockman et al surveyed the Julian Scholars about the bridge program and additional program components to provide quantitative data and also held focus groups to collect qualitative data to augment graduation rates and post-graduation career information.","PeriodicalId":203790,"journal":{"name":"2015 Research in Equity and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT)","volume":"59 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116959809","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2015-10-12DOI: 10.1109/RESPECT.2015.7296501
Jane Stout, Heather M. Wright
The field of computing is rapidly developing, requiring a strong and diverse labor force. The current work assessed the relationship between Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) students' sense of belonging in computing and thoughts about leaving the field. The results of two studies indicated that among undergraduate students (Study 1) and graduate students (Study 2), thoughts about leaving one's computing program were associated with feeling a low sense of belonging in the computing community. These findings suggest that in order to capitalize on talent and perspective offered by the LGBTQ community, the field of computing should make greater strides towards inclusivity.
{"title":"Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer students' sense of belonging in computing","authors":"Jane Stout, Heather M. Wright","doi":"10.1109/RESPECT.2015.7296501","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/RESPECT.2015.7296501","url":null,"abstract":"The field of computing is rapidly developing, requiring a strong and diverse labor force. The current work assessed the relationship between Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) students' sense of belonging in computing and thoughts about leaving the field. The results of two studies indicated that among undergraduate students (Study 1) and graduate students (Study 2), thoughts about leaving one's computing program were associated with feeling a low sense of belonging in the computing community. These findings suggest that in order to capitalize on talent and perspective offered by the LGBTQ community, the field of computing should make greater strides towards inclusivity.","PeriodicalId":203790,"journal":{"name":"2015 Research in Equity and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT)","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124077443","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2015-10-12DOI: 10.1109/RESPECT.2015.7296493
S. Zweben, Elizabeth B. Bizot
This paper reports the results of an in-depth study of two decades of data from the IPEDS database, to examine trends in the participation of women in postsecondary academic computing programs at the bachelor's, master's, and doctoral level. Emphasis is placed on determining differences among the various disciplines within the computing field, and differences based on institutional and citizenship/ ethnicity characteristics.
{"title":"Representation of women in postsecondary computing 1990–2013: Disciplines, institutional, and individual characteristics matter","authors":"S. Zweben, Elizabeth B. Bizot","doi":"10.1109/RESPECT.2015.7296493","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/RESPECT.2015.7296493","url":null,"abstract":"This paper reports the results of an in-depth study of two decades of data from the IPEDS database, to examine trends in the participation of women in postsecondary academic computing programs at the bachelor's, master's, and doctoral level. Emphasis is placed on determining differences among the various disciplines within the computing field, and differences based on institutional and citizenship/ ethnicity characteristics.","PeriodicalId":203790,"journal":{"name":"2015 Research in Equity and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT)","volume":"73 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127278178","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2015-10-12DOI: 10.1109/RESPECT.2015.7296497
A. Hodari, M. Ong, Lily T. Ko, Janet M. Smith
Since its inception, our project, Computing Beyond the Double Bind: Women of Color in Computing Education and Careers (CBDB), has sought to understand the factors that promote success for these women, who are vastly under-represented in this field. We also seek to add to the existing knowledge base by highlighting how policy and practice can create increased opportunities. So far, we have reported on mentoring methods that support women of color, as well as a unique enactment of activism by women of color in computing. (We define activism as volunteer work in which women engage for the purpose of increasing diversity in the field.) Such activism is an example of a strategy in which women use their own agency to increase opportunities for others like them, a strategy we have found in other disciplines also indirectly supports their own success. What is not fully understood are the many ways women of color act directly, using their own agency to create success for themselves. These agentic strategies are the focus of our current analysis, the strategies they use rather than those enacted upon them by others. In this paper, we present findings from our interviews with women computing students and professionals of color, who describe their approaches, often inspired by those who teach, mentor and even challenge them. Among the most compelling findings are those strategies women employ when they witness the successes and failures of others, and are inspired to try new things.
{"title":"Enabling courage: Agentic strategies of women of color in computing","authors":"A. Hodari, M. Ong, Lily T. Ko, Janet M. Smith","doi":"10.1109/RESPECT.2015.7296497","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/RESPECT.2015.7296497","url":null,"abstract":"Since its inception, our project, Computing Beyond the Double Bind: Women of Color in Computing Education and Careers (CBDB), has sought to understand the factors that promote success for these women, who are vastly under-represented in this field. We also seek to add to the existing knowledge base by highlighting how policy and practice can create increased opportunities. So far, we have reported on mentoring methods that support women of color, as well as a unique enactment of activism by women of color in computing. (We define activism as volunteer work in which women engage for the purpose of increasing diversity in the field.) Such activism is an example of a strategy in which women use their own agency to increase opportunities for others like them, a strategy we have found in other disciplines also indirectly supports their own success. What is not fully understood are the many ways women of color act directly, using their own agency to create success for themselves. These agentic strategies are the focus of our current analysis, the strategies they use rather than those enacted upon them by others. In this paper, we present findings from our interviews with women computing students and professionals of color, who describe their approaches, often inspired by those who teach, mentor and even challenge them. Among the most compelling findings are those strategies women employ when they witness the successes and failures of others, and are inspired to try new things.","PeriodicalId":203790,"journal":{"name":"2015 Research in Equity and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT)","volume":"142 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128602826","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2015-10-12DOI: 10.1109/RESPECT.2015.7296496
Philip Sheridan Buffum, M. Frankosky, K. Boyer, E. Wiebe, Bradford W. Mott, James C. Lester
Game-based learning environments can deliver robust learning gains and also have a unique capacity to engage students. Yet they can unintentionally disadvantage students with less prior gaming experience. This is especially concerning in computer science education, as certain underrepresented groups (such as female students) may on average have less prior experience with games. This paper presents evidence that a collaborative gameplay approach can successfully address this problem at the middle school level. In an iterative, designed-based research study, we first used an experimental pilot study to investigate the nature of collaboration in the Engage game-based learning environment, and then deployed Engage in a full classroom study to measure its effectiveness at serving all students. In earlier phases of the intervention, male students outpaced their female peers in learning gains. However, female students caught up during a multi-week classroom implementation. These findings provide evidence that a collaborative gameplay approach may, over time, compensate for gender differences in experience and lead to equitable learning experiences within game-based learning environments for computer science education.
{"title":"Leveraging collaboration to improve gender equity in a game-based learning environment for middle school computer science","authors":"Philip Sheridan Buffum, M. Frankosky, K. Boyer, E. Wiebe, Bradford W. Mott, James C. Lester","doi":"10.1109/RESPECT.2015.7296496","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/RESPECT.2015.7296496","url":null,"abstract":"Game-based learning environments can deliver robust learning gains and also have a unique capacity to engage students. Yet they can unintentionally disadvantage students with less prior gaming experience. This is especially concerning in computer science education, as certain underrepresented groups (such as female students) may on average have less prior experience with games. This paper presents evidence that a collaborative gameplay approach can successfully address this problem at the middle school level. In an iterative, designed-based research study, we first used an experimental pilot study to investigate the nature of collaboration in the Engage game-based learning environment, and then deployed Engage in a full classroom study to measure its effectiveness at serving all students. In earlier phases of the intervention, male students outpaced their female peers in learning gains. However, female students caught up during a multi-week classroom implementation. These findings provide evidence that a collaborative gameplay approach may, over time, compensate for gender differences in experience and lead to equitable learning experiences within game-based learning environments for computer science education.","PeriodicalId":203790,"journal":{"name":"2015 Research in Equity and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT)","volume":"32 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134031914","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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