research-article

An examination of belongingness and confidence among female computer science students

Authors:

Jessica Gilmartin,

Melissa SobelAuthors Info & Claims

ACM SIGCAS Computers and Society, Volume 45, Issue 2

Pages 7 - 10

https://doi.org/10.1145/2809957.2809960

Published: 30 July 2015 Publication History

Abstract

Feelings of isolation as one of few women in her undergraduate computer science program motivated lead author Pooja Sankar to create Piazza, a free discussion tool for STEM students. Piazza researchers recently completed an exhaustive study on more than 1 million student enrollments over a two-year period and found that feelings of isolation, as exhibited by a measurable gap in willingness to ask and answer course-related questions openly, persist among many female computer science and STEM students today. Female STEM students studied were both less likely to answer course-related questions and more likely to use an anonymity tool than their male peers. Undergraduate female students studying humanities, social sciences and business did not demonstrate the same gap. This paper reviews the findings of the study as well as related research both on the causes of isolation in the classroom as well as potential solutions to address it.

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Digital Library

Cited By

Potasznik AHaehn DDurupinar-Babur F(2024)“Just let me”: Experiences of Historically Marginalized Students in the Computer Science Department at an Urban Public University2024 Black Issues in Computing Education (BICE)10.1109/BICE60192.2024.00014(33-39)Online publication date: 1-Feb-2024
https://doi.org/10.1109/BICE60192.2024.00014
Sharma MMcTavish HPeng ZShah AAgarwal VSih CHogan EMolina IRaj AVaccaro K(2023)Engagement and Anonymity in Online Computer Science Course ForumsProceedings of the 2023 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research - Volume 110.1145/3568813.3600121(48-62)Online publication date: 7-Aug-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3568813.3600121
Wenner JFrary MSimmonds P(2023)Supporting STEM graduate students in strengthening their professional identity through an authentic interdisciplinary partnershipStudies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education10.1108/SGPE-02-2023-001715:1(96-116)Online publication date: 9-Oct-2023
https://doi.org/10.1108/SGPE-02-2023-0017
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Index Terms

An examination of belongingness and confidence among female computer science students
1. Social and professional topics

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Published In

cover image ACM SIGCAS Computers and Society

ACM SIGCAS Computers and Society Volume 45, Issue 2

June 2015

40 pages

ISSN:0095-2737

DOI:10.1145/2809957

Editors:
Vaibhav Garg,
Dee Weikle

Issue’s Table of Contents

Copyright © 2015 Copyright is held by the owner/author(s).

Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be honored. For all other uses, contact the Owner/Author.

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Association for Computing Machinery

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Published: 30 July 2015

Published in SIGCAS Volume 45, Issue 2

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Cited By

Potasznik AHaehn DDurupinar-Babur F(2024)“Just let me”: Experiences of Historically Marginalized Students in the Computer Science Department at an Urban Public University2024 Black Issues in Computing Education (BICE)10.1109/BICE60192.2024.00014(33-39)Online publication date: 1-Feb-2024
https://doi.org/10.1109/BICE60192.2024.00014
Sharma MMcTavish HPeng ZShah AAgarwal VSih CHogan EMolina IRaj AVaccaro K(2023)Engagement and Anonymity in Online Computer Science Course ForumsProceedings of the 2023 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research - Volume 110.1145/3568813.3600121(48-62)Online publication date: 7-Aug-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3568813.3600121
Wenner JFrary MSimmonds P(2023)Supporting STEM graduate students in strengthening their professional identity through an authentic interdisciplinary partnershipStudies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education10.1108/SGPE-02-2023-001715:1(96-116)Online publication date: 9-Oct-2023
https://doi.org/10.1108/SGPE-02-2023-0017
Graham MJacobson KHusman JPrince MFinelli CAndrews MBorrego M(2023)The relations between students' belongingness, self-efficacy, and response to active learning in science, math, and engineering classesInternational Journal of Science Education10.1080/09500693.2023.219664345:15(1241-1261)Online publication date: 16-Apr-2023
https://doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2023.2196643
Joyner DBernstein LBolger IDittamo MGorham SHudson RMerkle LDoyle MSheard JSoh LDorn B(2022)Anonymity: A Double-Edged Sword for Gender Equity in a CS1 Forum?Proceedings of the 53rd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education - Volume 110.1145/3478431.3499289(766-772)Online publication date: 22-Feb-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3478431.3499289
Garcia RLiao CPearce ATreude CMerkle LDoyle MSheard JSoh LDorn B(2022)Gender Influence on Communication Initiated within Student TeamsProceedings of the 53rd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education - Volume 110.1145/3478431.3499279(432-438)Online publication date: 22-Feb-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3478431.3499279
Morra CFultz RRaut S(2022)A Lesson from the Pandemic: Utilizing Digital Tools To Support Student Engagement during Instructional Assistant-Led SessionsJournal of Microbiology & Biology Education10.1128/jmbe.00143-2223:3Online publication date: 15-Dec-2022
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Dumitru OThorson KWest T(2022)Investigating gender differences among tutors and students during STEM peer tutoring: Women are as behaviorally engaged as men but experience more negative affectContemporary Educational Psychology10.1016/j.cedpsych.2022.10208870(102088)Online publication date: Jul-2022
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Vera-Gajardo A(2021)Belonging and Masculinities: Proposal of a Conceptual Framework to Study the Reasons behind the Gender Gap in EngineeringSustainability10.3390/su13201115713:20(11157)Online publication date: 9-Oct-2021
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Tian XRisha ZAhmed ILekshmi Narayanan ABiehl J(2021)Let's Talk It OutProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/34491715:CSCW1(1-32)Online publication date: 22-Apr-2021
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