Computational thinking and gender imbalance in computer science
| dc.contributor.author | Abbate, Janet E. | en |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-01-30T18:26:06Z | en |
| dc.date.available | 2025-01-30T18:26:06Z | en |
| dc.date.issued | 2025-01-06 | en |
| dc.description.abstract | The percentage of female computer science majors is lower today at U.S. schools than in the 1980s, despite decades of effort by concerned computer scientists and the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). Researchers have addressed a variety of possible reasons, ranging from the lack of female role models, to sexism on campus and in the workplace, to conflicts between work and motherhood. More recently, efforts to attract women have focused on the content of computer science as a factor deterring women. In particular, recent studies have proposed that the subject will be more appealing to underrepresented groups — especially girls — if teachers emphasize “computational thinking.” The idea that computer science has its own special way of thinking, which can both appeal to women and be transferred to non-computing fields, has been a subject of enthusiasm but also debate among computer education experts. This paper explores the implications of the claim that teaching computational thinking can help undo the gender imbalance in computing, and what this says about computer science itself. | en |
| dc.description.version | Published version | en |
| dc.format.extent | 13 page(s) | en |
| dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | en |
| dc.identifier.citation | Abbate, J. (2025). Computational thinking and gender imbalance in computer science. First Monday, 30(1). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v30i1.14110 | en |
| dc.identifier.doi | https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v30i1.14110 | en |
| dc.identifier.issn | 1396-0466 | en |
| dc.identifier.issue | 1 | en |
| dc.identifier.orcid | Abbate, Janet [0000-0001-8230-6334] | en |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10919/124448 | en |
| dc.identifier.volume | 30 | en |
| dc.language.iso | en | en |
| dc.relation.uri | https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/issue/view/763 | en |
| dc.rights | Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International | en |
| dc.rights.uri | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ | en |
| dc.subject | computer science | en |
| dc.subject | gender | en |
| dc.subject | computational thinking | en |
| dc.title | Computational thinking and gender imbalance in computer science | en |
| dc.title.serial | First Monday | en |
| dc.type | Article - Refereed | en |
| dc.type.dcmitype | Text | en |
| dc.type.other | Article | en |
| dcterms.dateAccepted | 2023-11-26 | en |
| pubs.organisational-group | Virginia Tech | en |
| pubs.organisational-group | Virginia Tech/All T&R Faculty | en |
| pubs.organisational-group | Virginia Tech/Liberal Arts and Human Sciences | en |
| pubs.organisational-group | Virginia Tech/Liberal Arts and Human Sciences/Science and Technology in Society | en |
| pubs.organisational-group | Virginia Tech/Liberal Arts and Human Sciences/CLAHS T&R Faculty | en |