Share Paper: Traditional High School STEM Curriculum Ineffective in Promoting Female Interest in Computer Science

  1. Rohith Venkataraman, CS Dept., The Charter School of Wilmington, United States
  2. Eshan Agarwal, CS Dept., The Charter School of Wilmington, United States
  3. David Brown, CS Dept., The Charter School of Wilmington, United States
Wednesday, October 23 1:30-1:50 PM Las Vegas Ballroom 6

Abstract: Females remain underrepresented in the field of Computer Science (CS) (Hill, Corbett, & St. Rose, 2010; Spertus, 1991). Gender differences in STEM fields have decreased. However, CS still shows diminished increase in female representation (Spertus, 1991). In a Northeastern United States, STEM focused high school, CS Freshman students were surveyed relative to barriers to female participation in the field of CS: experience, confidence, interest, and perception. Data gathering utilized a survey and semantic differentials. Analysis of data occurred through the SPSS™ tools utilizing the nonparametric, Kruskal-Wallis algorithm to mitigate unequal cell sizes. Students in higher level CS courses were also ...