1. Which characteristics and interactions in each gateway course context, including local classroom, departmental, institutional, or disciplinary characteristics—influence whether students in general and women in particular feel they belong in computer science?

2. How do local gateway course settings compare and contrast, and how does this analysis help us better understand women’s persistence in computer science? 

Research questions: Gender and Belonging in Undergraduate Computer Science

This study analyzes educational settings using student experiences in gateway courses to understand why the gender gap exists and why women decide to leave the the sciences.  

Wayne State University

- different experiences with computers prior to entering college (men had more previous computing experience that often lead to women feeling less confident in their abilities)
- mathematics and programming focussed first year courses
- the lack of departmental encouragement and support
- the low number of women role models in computer science 
- the lack of collaborative work in the classroom 
- gender discrimination 
- wider cultural stereotypes of computer science’s heavy workload, social isolation, and gamer-mentality (women feel alienated from the male-centered computer science culture).  


Factors influencing the Computer Science Gender Gap

Benbow, R. J., & Vivyan, E. (2016). Gender and Belonging in Undergraduate Computer Science: A Comparative Case Study of Student Experiences in Gateway Courses (WCER Working Paper No. 2016-2). Retrieved from University of Wisconsin–Madison, Wisconsin Center for Education Research website: http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/publications/working-papers

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