Carol Frieze

Diversifying the images of computer science: undergraduate women take on the challenge!

This paper tells the story of a student initiative, driven by a desire to diversify the images that surround the field of computer science and those who work in it.

The Evolving Culture of Computing: Similarity Is the Difference

Most studies of gender and computer science have been conducted (out of necessity) in gender-imbalanced environments. The findings often point to significant gender differences, leading the researchers to recommend strategies to meet these differences. One such recommendation is to adopt a femalefriendly, contextual approach to curriculum development.1 In contrast, based on our recent and ongoing studies of undergraduate computer science (CS) students at Carnegie Mellon University, we hypothesize that in a more balanced environment, gender differences tend to dissolve. That is, the spectrum of interests, motivation, and personality types of men and of women becomes more alike than different. This leads us to be considerably more pragmatic in our recommendations for effective and positive change. Indeed, we believe that recommendations for curricular changes based on presumed gender differences can be misguided and may help reinforce, even perpetuate, stereotypes. Here, we describe some of the changes in the culture of computing as our undergraduate CS environment has become more balanced in three critical domains: gender, the mix of students and breadth of their interests, and the professional experiences afforded all students.

Work in progress: ACTIVATE: Advancing computing and technology interest and innovation through teacher education

In the Northern Appalachian region around Pittsburgh, PA, many high schools do not have computer science courses, so students are not introduced to this critical subject that is needed for most technical career paths. Our unique strategy is to invite current high school science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) teachers, in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and Maryland, to participate in 3 summer workshops showing how to incorporate computing concepts into existing STEM courses. By working with teachers on how to assimilate programming and computational thinking into their classrooms we will effectively reach a large population of students in areas where computer science classes are not available. In this paper, we outline the current state of the project and some of the data we have collected. Future goals for this project include performing a rigorous evaluation of teacher impact and developing the workshop materials for wider dissemination.