Abstract
In this paper, we present the results from a case study on an annual extra-curricular summer camp, in which participants (n = 126) engaged in STEM and Computational Thinking activities, facilitated through the usage of the micro:bit microcontroller platform. The camp was a reengineered version of an annual summer camp held by Teknologiskolen; a Danish non-profit organisation offering weekly classes in technology. The focus of the reengineering was to increase the number of girls participating in the camp. This was attempted by creating a girls-only team, which employed highly contextualised projects and had an emphasis on using everyday materials, like cardboard, paint and glue. The result was a significant increase in the number of participating girls and on their attitude towards technology, which at the end of the camp, matched that of the boys. Based on the results, we argue that the girls-only team was the main reason for the higher number of participating girls, while the change in attitude was due to the highly contextualised projects and selection of materials.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Teknologiskolen. Teknologiskolen (2020). [cited January the 22nd, 2021]; https://www.teknologiskolen.dk/
Future, E.T.: Prognose for STEM-mangel 2025 (2018). Engineer the Future: engineerthefuture.dk
Schoolnet, E.: European Schoolnet’s 2017 Annual Report. 2018: eun.org - Brussels, Belgium
Wing, J.M.: Computational thinking. Commun. ACM 49(3), 33–35 (2006)
Atmatzidou, S., Demetriadis, S.: Advancing students’ computational thinking skills through educational robotics: a study on age and gender relevant differences. Robot. Auton. Syst. 75, 661–670 (2016)
Blanchard, S., Freiman, V., Lirrete-Pitre, N.: Strategies used by elementary schoolchildren solving robotics-based complex tasks: Innovative potential of technology. Procedia-Soc. Behav. Sci. 2(2), 2851–2857 (2010)
Sáez-López, J.-M., Sevillano-García, M.-L., Vazquez-Cano, E.: The effect of programming on primary school students’ mathematical and scientific understanding: educational use of mBot. Educ. Tech. Res. Dev. 67(6), 1405–1425 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-019-09648-5
Papert, S., Harel, I.: Constructionism: research reports and essays, 1985–1990. 1991: Ablex publishing corporation (1991)
Wilson, B.G.: Constructivist learning environments: case studies in instructional design. 1996: Educational Technology (1996)
Corbett, C., Hill, C.: Solving the Equation: The Variables for Women's Success in Engineering and Computing. 2015: ERIC (2015)
García-Holgado, A., et al.: European proposals to work in the gender gap in STEM: a systematic analysis. IEEE Revista Iberoamericana de Tecnologias del Aprendizaje 15(3), 215–224 (2020)
García-Holgado, A., et al.: Trends in studies developed in Europe focused on the gender gap in STEM. In: Proceedings of the XX International Conference on Human Computer Interaction (2019)
Peixoto, A., et al.: Diversity and inclusion in engineering education: looking through the gender question. In: 2018 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON). IEEE (2018)
Master, A., et al.: Programming experience promotes higher STEM motivation among first-grade girls 160, 92–106 (2017)
Craig, M., Horton, D.: Gr8 designs for Gr8 girls: a middle-school program and its evaluation. In: Proceedings of the 40th ACM technical symposium on Computer Science Education (2009)
Mason, R., Cooper, G., Comber, T.J.A.I.: Girls get it 2(3), 71–77 (2011)
Weinberg, J.B., et al.: The impact of robot projects on girls’ attitudes toward science and engineering. In: Workshop on Research in Robots for Education. Citeseer (2007)
Sullivan, A.A.J.T.U.: Breaking the STEM Stereotype: Investigating the Use of Robotics to Change Young Childrens Gender Stereotypes About Technology and Engineering (2016)
Terry, B.S., Briggs, B.N., Rivale, S.: Work in progress: gender impacts of relevant robotics curricula on high school students' engineering attitudes and interest. In: 2011 Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE). IEEE (2011)
Sklar, E., Eguchi, A.: RoboCupJunior — four years later. In: Nardi, D., Riedmiller, M., Sammut, C., Santos-Victor, J. (eds.) RoboCup. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 3276, pp. 172–183. Springer, Heidelberg (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-32256-6_14
Pedersen, B.K.M.K., Marchetti, E., Valente, A., Nielsen, J.: Fabric robotics - lessons learned introducing soft robotics in a computational thinking course for children. In: Zaphiris, P., Ioannou, A. (eds.) HCII 2020. LNCS, vol. 12206, pp. 499–519. Springer, Cham (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50506-6_34
Borum, N., Kristensen, K., Peterssonbrooks, E., Brooks, A.L.: Medium for children’s creativity: a case study of artifact’s influence. In: Stephanidis, C., Antona, M. (eds.) UAHCI 2014. LNCS, vol. 8514, pp. 233–244. Springer, Cham (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07440-5_22
Carmichael, G.J.A.S.B.: Girls, computer science, and games 40(4), 107–110 (2008)
Papert, S.A.: Mindstorms: children, computers, and powerful ideas. 2020: Basic books (2020)
MakeCode, M.: MakeCode. https://makecode.microbit.org/. Accessed 14 Dec 2020
Holst, K.: Ny bevilling giver ultra:bit vokseværk (2020). https://www.dr.dk/om-dr/ultrabit/ny-bevilling-giver-ultrabit-voksevaerk. Accessed 14 Dec 2020
Teknologihuset. FireFly (2021). https://teknologihuset.dk/vare/firefly/. Accessed 20 Jan 2021
Conde, M.Á., et al.: RoboSTEAM-A Challenge Based Learning Approach for integrating STEAM and develop Computational Thinking. In: Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality (2019)
Johnson, L.F., et al.: Challenge-based learning: An approach for our time. The new Media consortium (2009)
IBM. SPSS (2021). https://www.ibm.com/analytics/spss-statistics-software. Accessed 4 Jan 2021
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Pedersen, B.K.M.K., Larsen, J.C., Nielsen, J. (2022). Girls and Technology – Insights from a Girls-Only Team at a Reengineered Educational Robotics Summer Camp. In: Merdan, M., Lepuschitz, W., Koppensteiner, G., Balogh, R., Obdržálek, D. (eds) Robotics in Education. RiE 2021. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 1359. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82544-7_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82544-7_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-82543-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-82544-7
eBook Packages: Intelligent Technologies and RoboticsIntelligent Technologies and Robotics (R0)