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

女性参与计算机科学是美国国家科学基金会的一个重要目标，也有利于新兴技术领域的国家劳动力。学术和职业道路的决定是由个人做出的，理解阻碍学生选择计算机科学职业的障碍可能会减少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影响非计算机科学/非工程专业一年级女本科生决策的个人、社会和制度限制。专业发展计划将通过开发STEM教育研究的混合方法方法的技能来建立研究能力。这个项目的重点是那些没有在技术道路上的女学生，因此可以提供一些见解，帮助她们选择学术和职业。该项目的目标是研究影响选择留在或退出计算机科学道路的决策因素，确定非计算机科学女学生在计算机科学入门课程中的挑战和成功故事，并得出可以应用于设计一个受欢迎和繁荣的环境的最佳实践的经验教训，以促进女性进一步参与计算机科学。从布朗芬布伦纳的生态理论和社会文化自我行为模型的基础上，该项目试图检查与制度和课程结构有关的个人情境化选择。该项目由美国国家科学基金会EHR STEM教育研究核心研究能力建设项目（ECR: BCSER）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。

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.