ITW: Learning Behaviors and Background Characteristics that Promote Retention of Women and Minorities in Undergraduate Computer Science Programs

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Institution: University of PittsburgProposal Number: EIA 0089963PI: Sandra KatzTitle: Learning Behaviors and Background Characteristics that Promote Retention of Women and Minorities in Undergraduate Computer Science ProgramsThis CISE Information Technology Workforce (ITW) proposal requests funds to study how students' learning strategies and behaviors affect their performance in undergraduate computer science programs. Since programming is one of the first skills that computer science students learn, and a stumbling block for many, the study will focus on students' programming learning strategies. The study will consist of three main activities. The first will be the identification of learning and programming behaviors that distinguish successful from unsuccessful CS students; and the determination of which behaviors, if any, are more characteristic of males than females (and the reverse) and Caucasian students than African American students (and the reverse). The second activity will be the development and evaluation of an intervention to train effective learning and programming behaviors. The third activity will be a survey of students and successful computer scientists to determine whether certain pre-college experiences predict effective learning behaviors and success in computer science. This project has the potential to provide valuable insights into the recruitment and retention of women and underrepresented minorities in computer science majors.