Combating Perceptions of Computer Scientists: A Short-term Intervention (Abstract Only)

Fifty-four middle school girls were a part of weeklong program geared towards encouraging young women in STEM careers. During a two-day computer science intervention, we introduced students to our VEnvI software where students program virtual characters to perform choreography. During this time, students were introduced programming concepts: sequencing, loops, and variables. They also spent time performing to learn some of the movements in VEnvI and discussed different aspects of the VEnvI software design including motion capture & Unity 3D Development. The latter conversations were couched in relation to being a computer scientist. Data were collected from the students on the first day of the camp as well as at the end of the second day. Each student was given a piece of paper that only contained a code corresponding to her. The instructions were to write, "What do computer scientists do?" on one side of the page, and to draw a picture of a computer scientist on the other side. Our findings suggest that, at least in the short term, this type of intervention can impact students' perceptions of computer science as well as broaden their perspectives of computer scientists. More students drew female computer scientists in the post-test and showed computer scientists working in teams rather than alone. Further, students' ideas of what computer scientists "do" shifted from fixing computers and making websites to creating, designing, and inventing with computers.