Sure I can code (but do I want to?). Why boys' and girls’ programming beliefs differ and the effects of mandatory programming education

Abstract

In our increasingly digitalized society, it is important to have a grasp of basic programming and therefore, programming was recently made mandatory in Swedish schools. We investigated how the mandatory programming education affects self-efficacy and interest in programming in a sample of 12-year-old children (N = 373). Data was collected at the start of the school year, directly after the education (mainly consisting of block programming), and the end of the school year. Boys had higher self-efficacy and interest than girls at all these three timepoints. Interestingly, as opposed to girls with Swedish background, girls with foreign background did not differ from the boys in programming self-efficacy. The gender difference in programming self-efficacy was completely mediated by gender differences in the children's previous mastery experience, social persuasion, and vicarious experience of computer use. Self-efficacy was strongly related to interest, but despite increasing the children's self-efficacy, programming education surprisingly reduced their interest in programming. The results regarding predictors of self-efficacy lend support to Bandura's social cognitive theory. The intersectional (gender x background) differences could be interpreted in terms of the gender-equality paradox. Possible ways of encouraging children's programming efforts and boosting the effects of interventions are discussed.