My area of research was conceived after hearing so many students tell me “programming is hard”, in particularly females, and seeing so few in my programming courses semester after semester - I decided to explore why. Why does this gender gap exist predominantly in STEM disciplines? Why are there so few women in technology”? What are the most effective methodologies to close these gaps? I am currently studying these gaps and where they intersect. There are many, many gaps – however I am focusing on three, which are:
- cognitive gap;
- STEM gender gap; and
- equity gap in middle school education.
Cognitive Gap
Every student has the potential to learn. But not all students have the same cognitive capacity to learn when they enter the classroom. There is little empirical proof that the complexities associated with unknown content is due to the inherent nature of its paradigm or if it is due to improper learning acquisition, which then leads to misapplication of the content. This strand of research focuses on identifying atomic-level properties that cause the knowledge acquisition to shift from simple to complex. Experiential teaching methodologies are utilized in programming classes to help students comprehend abstract concepts and unknown content. Understanding how students develop cognitive capacity in a comprehensive and integrated manner is a vital step in closing the achievement gaps. Furthermore, these efforts will enable me to create a pedagogical model that will reduce the learning curve for educating students in programming and dense content subject matter - thereby increasing student retention and improving student achievement.
STEM Gender Gap in High School
According to the Center for Cyber Safety and Education unfilled cybersecurity jobs are expected to reach 1.8 million by 2022. Only 14 percent of the U.S. workforce in cybersecurity is female. Furthermore, less than 20% of the students who study cybersecurity in this country are women. Why aren’t female students majoring in cybersecurity when this is the fastest growing field? The problem is certainly not ability. Women are certainly as capable as men in succeeding in this field. The gender imbalance has potential consequences for this nation’s security, so it is imperative that we understand why women are not being attracted to this field.
The GenCyber Camp CryptoBot summer workshop for high school students explores what factors contribute to a female’s decision in determining whether they feel confident to pursue cybersecurity or program. This camp utilizes a series of robotics (SeaPerch, Sphero, Parrot Mini-drones) to engage students, in particularly young women and minorities. The summer workshop curriculums designed by female faculty utilized a problem-based cooperative learning approach to subject immersion, idea generation, and hands-on construction. Our preliminary findings reveal that by providing this subpopulation with female-led instructional activities, female-coaching, and female cybersecurity keynote speakers has a positive effect on the female participant’s achievement and attitudes, thereby increasing their participation in cybersecurity. We are still exploring what key factors contribute to a female’s attitude, self-efficacy, and perception on their final decision to pursue cybersecurity or a career in technology.
Equity Gap in Middle School Education
Inequity in the classroom is an ongoing problem. The lack of access to technology puts low-income students at an immediate disadvantage by being less knowledgeable about the many new STEM careers available today. Communities continue to struggle with the problems created by income inequality and the other results of inequity in education. Inadequate wages prevent families from providing their children with the best opportunities in education – hence the gap. One approach to closing this gap is CIS 102Q Problem Solving Using Robotics course.
This course is part of the Service-Learning Initiative at Pace University, whose motto Opportunitas, focuses on nurturing non-traditional and first-generation students for success. This course, which I designed and developed in 2004, exposes middle school students to computer coding and problem-solving skills using various robotic platforms. The objective of the course is twofold: Seidenberg students build their confidence and obtain satisfaction of giving back to their community while stimulate interest of the middle school students in future STEM careers. This course partners with a middle school for 5 weeks where the Pace students teach middle school students from 1-3 classes about coding and problem solving. I am interested in learning the impact of this civic engagement course and its impact on educational inequities within the classroom. This course has worked with the following schools and afterschool programs:
- The New York School for the Deaf
- Fox Lane Middle School
- Westlake Middle School
- Carmel Middle School
- Alice E. Grady Elementary School
- Pierre Van Cortlandt Middle School
- Richard J. Bailey Elementary School
- YWCA – GEMS Afterschool Program
- The White Plains Youth Bureau Afterschool Program
- WestHab
- Children’s Village
- The Abott House
