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Effective Strategies for Encouraging Girls in Informatics

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Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction (HCII 2023)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 14021))

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Abstract

Although the increasing availability of technology and its widespread use by people of all genders, women continue to be underrepresented in academic and industry careers related to Informatics. Research has consistently shown that a gender gap exists in computer science education, with a lower participation rate of female students than their male counterparts. Despite changes in technology and accessibility, similar obstacles persist, which necessitates a reexamination of the need to acknowledge these barriers and emphasize the development of strategies to eliminate them. To emphasize this, the aim of this study is to identify effective strategies for encouraging pre-university girls to pursue study informatics by gathering and analyzing the existing initiatives’ points of view. To reach this aim, we conducted phenomenological research with twelve initiatives from twelve different countries. We conducted semi-structured interviews to gather enriched information about the participants’ experiences. We analyzed the data inductively. As a result, we found mentorship programs, role models, aware teachers, collaboration with parents, early contact with computing, creating interest by challenges, broader knowledge about informatics, educating boys, and multidisciplinary approach in teaching as effective strategies.

This work has been partially supported by the EUGAIN COST Action CA19122 - European Network for Gender Balance in Informatics.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon, Turkey

    Zeynep Şahin Timar

  2. Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Eskişehir, Turkey

    Özge Mısırlı

Authors
  1. Zeynep Şahin Timar
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  2. Özge Mısırlı
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Correspondence to Zeynep Şahin Timar .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Foundation for Research and Technology, Heraklion, Crete, Greece

    Margherita Antona

  2. Foundation for Research and Technology, Heraklion, Crete, Greece

    Constantine Stephanidis

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Şahin Timar, Z., Mısırlı, Ö. (2023). Effective Strategies for Encouraging Girls in Informatics. In: Antona, M., Stephanidis, C. (eds) Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction. HCII 2023. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 14021. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35897-5_27

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35897-5_27

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-35897-5

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