Learning Abstraction in Computer Science

Abstract

In a previous study, we investigated a framework for teaching abstraction in computer science (CS) in the context of an introductory CS course for 7th-grade students. The framework was found effective for developing CS abstraction skills. In this paper, we describe a study that investigated teaching abstraction in CS to 7th-grade students through the perspective of gender. Specifically, we compared the CS abstraction abilities of boys and girls taking the introductory CS course in 7th grade (using the Scratch environment). We also examined the difference in the effect of the teaching strategy on CS abstraction abilities between boys and girls. Our findings show a significant advantage of girls over boys regarding several aspects of CS abstraction. We also found that the framework for teaching CS abstraction, which was already established in our previous study as effective in the context of an introductory course for 7th-grade students, has an enhanced effect in this context when it comes to girls. This enhancement was manifested by a better overall performance by the girls, when comparing boys and girls that took an introductory CS course in which this framework was used. It was also manifested by the girls' deeper and more reliable perception of CS. We conjecture that this framework has the potential to affect girls' self-efficacy, and as a result to create a positive effect by encouraging and motivating girls to pursue CS education beyond this introductory course. That is, this framework has the potential to contribute to solving the issue of underrepresentation of females at the different stages of CS education, or in other words, to widening the CS pipeline for females.