Session Information
16 SES 04, Gender Differences and ICT
Paper Session
Contribution
This study evaluates the effectiveness of a game-design workshop that aims to positively influence female students’ perception of computer science by facilitating identity exploration. According to Burrows (2013), while gender parity can be found in some areas of technology, game design is faced with great gender disparity. Though roughly half of the gamers in the US market are women, only 11% of game designers are women and of that percentage, only 3% are developers. Although the overall percentage of women employed by video-game companies has increased over the past ten years, nearly all of that growth has occurred in non-technical fields like public relations (Burrows, 2013).
A combination of personal, social, and structural factors contributes to these trends. Personal barriers like lack of fluency in technology, lack of early positive experiences, and a lack of information about careers might drive women away from technology, while social barriers like gender role expectations, or a lack of female role models might convince women that there is no place for them in the field (Werner et al., 2005). Finally, structural barriers like girls' aversion towards narrowly or technically focused programming classes or instructional methods that prevent girls from becoming technical problem-solvers might contribute to a lack of preparation for employment in this field. We believe that some of these barriers can and should be addressed at the K-12 level.
Personal barriers are centered around self-perception and identity. Students tend not to be interested in or identify with domains in which they lack specific knowledge (Markus & Nurius, 1986; Renninger, 2009). When they consider possible occupations, students fail to consider some options because they are either unaware of them or because they find them unappealing. Among the options they consider to be appealing, some are eliminated because they do not feel confident about the requirements of those occupations (Brophy, 2009; Eccles, 2009). When students are intrinsically motivated to learn a skill they are more likely to spend time and effort in its mastery and feel good about their accomplishments (Malone, 1981). If female students have positive attitudes towards particular subjects, they might be more willing to invest their time and energy in learning them. Videogame design activities may provide a fruitful context in which students can explore a new identity by enacting computational ideas and practices (Foster, 2008;Van Eck, 2006).
Studies that employed videogame design workshops to improve girls’ attitudes towards computing have reported mixed results. Van Eck (2006) observed that exposure to different videogames and game-design activities promoted both boys’ and girls’ attitudes towards technology. Similarly, Denner (2007) reported that an after-school workshop designed to encourage girls’ engagement with technology helped them increase their knowledge and skills, and overcome their prejudice of information technology. However, Robertson’s (2013) findings suggest that girls do not enjoy game design projects as much as boys, and the workshops were not successful in making students more likely to study computer science in the future. In short, related studies suggest that such workshops may empower girls to see themselves as a person who is good with technology and encourage them to consider computing as a viable career option in the future. However, mixed findings suggest that there may be additional unexplored factors that determine the effectiveness of such activities.
In this study we propose and evaluate a game-design curriculum that utilizes identity exploration (Kaplan, Sinai & Flum, 2014) activities to improve female participants’ attitudes towards computing. Through pre- and post-surveys, focus group interviews, and game content analysis we aimed to observe whether the workshop had any influence on girl’s attitudes towards computing.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Brophy, J. (2009). Connecting with the big picture. Educational Psychologist, 44(2), 147-157. Burrows, L. (2013, January 27). Women remain outsiders in video game industry. (2013, January). Boston Globe. Retrieved March 16, 2015 from http://www.bostonglobe.com/ business/2013/01/27/women-remain-outsiders-video-game-industry/275JKqy3rFylT7TxgP mO3K/story.html Denner, J. (2007). The Girls Creating Games Program: An innovative approach to integrating technology into middle school. Meridian: A Middle School Computer Technologies Journal, 1(10). Eccles, J. (2009). Who am I and what am I going to do with my life? Personal and collective identities as motivators of action. Educational Psychologist,44(2), 78-89. Foster, A. (2008). Games and motivation to learn science: Personal identity, applicability, relevance and meaningfulness. Journal of Interactive Learning Research, 19(4), 597-614. Chicago. Markus, H., & Nurius, P. (1986). Possible selves. American Psychologist, 41, 954–969. Malone, T. W. (1981). Toward a theory of intrinsically motivating instruction. Cognitive science, 5(4), 333-369. Renninger, K. A. (2009). Interest and identity development in instruction: An inductive model. Educational Psychologist, 44(2), 105-118. Robertson, J. (2013). The influence of a game-making project on male and female learners’ attitudes to computing. Computer Science Education, 23(1), 58-83. Saldaña, J. (2012). The coding manual for qualitative researchers. Sage. Van Eck, R. (2006). Using games to promote girls' positive attitudes toward technology. Journal of Online Education, 2(3), 1-7. Werner, L., Campe, S., Bean, S., & Denner, J. (2005). The girls creating games program: Strategies for engaging middle-school girls in information technology. Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, 26(1), 90-98.
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