A Cultural Growth-Mindset Approach to Interest: Implications for Gender Gaps in Computer Science Participation

这个EHR核心研究奖的重点是通过调查将学术兴趣重新定义为必须被发现的可锻性（即，兴趣的成长型心态）是否有助于弥补计算机科学中的性别差距，从而扩大对计算机科学的参与。尽管科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）领域的性别差距总体上有所缩小，但计算机科学专业的女性比例一直不到20%，近几十年来甚至有所下降。计算机科学领域几乎没有女性的现象令人不安，原因有几个。以技术为重点的领域是就业机会不断增长的最大、最重要的STEM领域，女性被排除在外意味着她们错过了利润丰厚、灵活的工作机会。同样，计算机科学正在失去有才华的女性，她们本可以为这一学科和技术劳动力做出宝贵的贡献。研究人员将调查一种表面上似乎没有性别的心态——认为学术兴趣是固定的文化信念——是否会导致计算机科学参与中的性别差距。这项研究将进一步考察改变教育环境以培养兴趣成长型思维模式，并将其与欢迎计算机科学文化的信息相结合，是否会减少计算机科学领域的性别差距。研究结果可能建议对教育环境、政策和实践进行相对简单的改变，这可能会鼓励女性更容易地将计算机科学作为一种选择。这项研究将开发并测试一个理论模型，该模型检验了学生不仅在智力上而且在学术兴趣上都有固定或成长心态的观点。为了验证“固定的兴趣心态限制了女孩和女性参与计算机科学”这一理论，将进行两项调查和三项行为实验。在第一年，两项调查将检验大学、社区学院和高中学生是否认同一种固定的兴趣心态，以及认同是否与女孩和女性追求计算机科学的较低意愿相关。该调查将进一步研究固定心态的影响是否在典型的教育劣势群体中突出（例如，非洲裔美国妇女、拉丁美洲人、社会经济地位较低的妇女和女孩），以及关于计算机科学中性别文化的信念如何缓和影响。在二年级，大学和社区学院的学生将学习兴趣成长心态或控制心态。该研究预测，培养兴趣的成长型心态将增加妇女和女孩对计算机科学的兴趣。在三年级，一项大规模的实地实验将测试大学咨询会议的结构变化是否会增加女性的计算机科学课程。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This EHR Core Research award is focused on broadening participation in computer science by investigating whether reframing academic interest as something malleable that must be discovered (i.e., a growth mindset of interest) helps remedy gender gaps in computer science. Despite the overall narrowing of the gender gap in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, the percentage of women computer science majors has remained less than 20% and has even decreased in recent decades. The near absence of women in computer science is troubling for several reasons. Technology-focused areas are the largest and most important STEM fields in which employment opportunities are growing, and women's exclusion means they are missing out on lucrative and flexible job opportunities. Similarly, computer science is missing out on talented women who would make valuable contributions to the discipline and the technological workforce. The researchers will investigate whether a mindset that does not seem gendered on its surface - the cultural belief that academic interest is fixed - contributes to gender gaps in computer science participation. The research will further examine whether changing educational environments to foster a growth mindset about interest and pairing it with information about a welcoming computer science culture reduces gender gaps in computer science. The findings may suggest relatively simple changes to educational environments, policies and practices that may encourage women to more readily consider computer science as an option.This research will develop and test a theoretical model that examines the idea that students have fixed or growth mindsets not only about intelligence but also about academic interests. To test the theory that a fixed mindset of interest limits girls' and women's participation in computer science, two surveys and three behavioral experiments will be conducted. In Year 1, two surveys will examine whether university, community college, and high school students endorse a fixed mindset of interest, and whether endorsement correlates with girls' and women's lower intentions to pursue computer science. The survey will further examine whether effects of a fixed mindset are prominent among groups that are typically disadvantaged in education (e.g., African American women, Latinas, women and girls from lower SES backgrounds) and how beliefs about the gendered culture in computer science moderate effects. In Year 2, university and community college students will learn either a growth mindset of interest or a control mindset. The research predicts that fostering a growth mindset of interest will increase women's and girls' interest in computer science. In Year 3, a large-scale field experiment will test whether structural changes to college advising meetings increases women's computer science course taking.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.