Understanding the Barriers that Contribute to the Gender Gap in Computing in Higher Education

妇女参与计算机科学是NSF的一个重要目标，有利于国家新兴技术的劳动力。学术和职业道路的决定是由个人和理解障碍，有助于学生选择计算机科学职业可能会减少在这一领域的性别差距。弗吉尼亚理工学院和州立大学旨在了解个人，社会和机构的限制，影响一年级非计算机科学/非工程女本科生的决策。专业发展计划将通过发展STEM教育研究混合方法的技能来建立研究能力。该项目的重点是女学生谁是不是在技术途径，因此可以提供深入了解的经验，导致学术和职业选择。该项目的目标是研究影响选择留在或退出计算机科学途径的决策因素，确定非计算机科学女生在计算机科学入门课程中的挑战和成功故事，并汲取可用于设计一个欢迎和繁荣的环境以促进妇女进一步参与计算机科学的最佳做法的经验教训。从布朗芬布伦纳的生态理论和行为的社会文化自我模型的基础上，该项目旨在研究个人的情境选择与制度和课程结构。该项目由NSF的EHR Core Research Building Capacity in STEM Education Research（ECR：BCSER）项目提供支持，该项目旨在培养研究人员开展高质量STEM教育研究的能力。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Participation in computer science by women is a significant goal for NSF and benefits the nation’s workforce in emerging technologies. Academic and career path decisions are made by individuals and understanding barriers that contribute to student selection of computer science careers may reduce the gender gap in this field. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University seeks to understand personal, social, and institutional constraints that influence the decision-making of first-year non-computer science/non-engineering female undergraduate students. The professional development plan will build research capacity through developing skills in mixed methods approaches to STEM education research. This project focuses on female students who are not in the technology pathway and therefore can provide insights into experiences that lead to academic and career selection. The goals of the project are to examine decision-making factors that influence the choice to stay or exit the computer science pathway, identify stories of challenges and successes of non-computer science female students in introductory computer science courses, and derive lessons that can be applied towards best practices in designing a welcoming and thriving environment to promote further engagement by women in computer science. From a foundation of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory and sociocultural self model of behavior, the project seeks to examine individual contextualize choice in relation to institutional and course structure. The project is supported by NSF's EHR Core Research Building Capacity in STEM Education Research (ECR: BCSER) program, which is designed to build investigators’ capacity to carry out high-quality STEM education research.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.