Group Differences in Computer Science Aptitude

AbstractA computer science aptitude pretest was given to 183 students enrolled in Introduction to Computer Science at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. The aptitude variables of the pretest included reading comprehension, sequence completion, logical reasoning, algorithmic execution, and alpha-numeric translation. The purpose of the study was to identify group differences in computer science aptitude based on the following factors: age, sex, year in college, hours worked, previous computer experience, estimated high school performance, and estimated current college performance. Significant group differences were found in at least one aptitude variable for the factors age, previous computer experience, estimated high school performance, and estimated current college performance.