{"id":1080673,"date":"2022-11-29T07:19:08","date_gmt":"2022-11-29T12:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1080673"},"modified":"2022-11-29T07:19:08","modified_gmt":"2022-11-29T12:19:08","slug":"using-relevant-contexts-to-engage-girls-in-the-computing-classroom-study-results","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1080673","title":{"rendered":"Using relevant contexts to engage girls in the Computing classroom: Study results"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today we are sharing an evaluation report on another study that\u2019s part of our Gender Balance in Computing<\/a> research programme. In this study, we investigated the impact of using relevant contexts in classroom programming activities for 12- to 13-year-olds on girls\u2019 and boys\u2019 attitudes towards Computing.<\/p>\n

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\"Two<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

We have been working on Gender Balance in Computing since 2018, together with partner organisations Behavioural Insights Team, Apps for Good, and WISE, to conduct research studies exploring ways to encourage more girls and young women to engage with Computing in school. The research programme has been funded by the Department for Education, and we deliver it as part of the National Centre for Computing Education<\/a>. The report we share today is about the penultimate study in the programme.<\/p>\n

Components of a Computing curriculum<\/h2>\n

A typical Computing curriculum is built around content: a list of concepts, knowledge, and skills that will be covered during the course. For some learners, that list will be enough to motivate and engage them in Computing. But other learners require more to engage with the subject, such as context about how they can use the computing skills they learn in the real world. Crucially, this difference between learners is often gendered. Research has shown<\/a> that many boys become absorbed by the content in Computing courses, whereas for many girls the context for using computing skills is more important, and this context needs to relate to a variety of relevant scenarios where computing can solve problems.<\/p>\n

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\"In<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Developing teaching materials to highlight the relevance of Computing<\/h2>\n

In the Relevance study, we worked together with colleagues from Apps for Good<\/a> to create teaching materials that present Computing in contexts that were relevant to pupils\u2019 own interests. To do this, we drew on a research concept called identification<\/a>. This states that when learners become interested in a topic because it relates to part of their own identity, that makes the subject more personally meaningful to them, which in turn means that they are more likely to continue studying it. In the materials we created, we drew on learners\u2019 identities based on the communities that they belonged to (see image below). The materials asked them to identify the connections they had to their own communities, and to then use this as the context to design and create a mobile phone app.<\/p>\n

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The intervention materials asked learners to think about the communities they belong to.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cI feel a sense of achievement in Computing when making your ideas a reality makes you proud of your creation, which is rewarding.\u201d (Female learner, Relevance study evaluation report p. 57)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The Relevance research study<\/h2>\n

Between January 2022 and April 2022, more than 95 secondary schools were part of our study investigating the effect that learning with these resources might have on the attitudes of Year 8 pupils (aged 12\u201313) towards Computing. We are very grateful to all the schools, pupils, and teachers who took part in this study.<\/p>\n

To enable evaluation of the study as a randomised controlled trial, the schools were randomly divided into two groups: a \u2018control\u2019 group that taught standard Computing lessons, and a \u2018treatment\u2019 group that delivered the intervention materials we had developed. The impact of the intervention was independently evaluated by the Behavioural Insights Team<\/a> using data collected from pupils via surveys at the start and end of the intervention. The evaluators also collected data while conducting lesson observations, pupil group discussions, teacher interviews, and teacher surveys to understand how the intervention was delivered.<\/p>\n

The girls who took part in the intervention chose an interesting range of contexts for their apps, including:\u00a0<\/p>\n