‘Hints’ for girls could help build equality in computing
GIRLS learn about computers better when they are given more hints, University of Cambridge researchers have said as they opened a research centre aimed at making the subject less about “white men”.
Female pupils lack the confidence to “have a go” at problem solving and should be taught more about women’s contributions to science such as the Second World War code breaker Joan Clarke and the first computer programmer Ada Lovelace, the academics said.
Dr Alastair Beresford, deputy head of department at the University of Cambridge computer laboratory, said data showed girls could benefit from a series of hints when they are stuck on a tricky problem, known as “scaffolding”.
“As users become more confident they start not looking at that scaffolding anymore; that confidence aspect is something that has been in women more than men. In other words, maybe men are just prepared to have a go,” he said.
Dr Beresford said data harvested from online learning platforms used by thousands of science students showed boys are happier “to have a go” at problems than girls, but women’s contributions to the subject have been neglected and “we have to work hard to address that imbalance”.
He made the comments on Wednesday at the launch of the Raspberry Pi Computing Education Research Centre at the university.
Asked how women and ethnic minorities can be better engaged with the subject, whose most famous representatives are white men – such as Alan Turing, Charles Babbage, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs – he said: “That’s true across society – that men dominated society – and we have to work hard to address that imbalance.”
Dr Sue Sentance, director of the centre and a former teacher, said girls do not feel like they belong in the maledominated classrooms. Dr Sentance, who taught A-level computer science to mostly male classes, told The Daily Telegraph: “There’s a white male stereotype around computer science.
“When I was teaching I would have one girl and 19 boys, so that girl doesn’t feel like they belong in that classroom community.
“Parents might not think that’s the right subject for their children or peers as well. You can work in pairs and do pair work; the research is showing that girls work better in collaborative tasks.”