Addressing the gender gap in computer programming through the design and development of serious games

Carlos Vaz de Carvalho ^[3] ; Špela Cerar ^[1] ; Jože Rugelj ^[1] ; Hariklia Tsalapatas ^[2] ; Olivier Heidmann ^[2]
1. [1] University of Ljubljana
  
  University of Ljubljana
  
  Eslovenia
2. [2] University Of Thessaly
  
  University Of Thessaly
  
  Dimos Volos, Grecia
3. [3] Instituto Superior de Engenharía do Porto, Portugal
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Localización: Revista Iberoamericana de Tecnologías del Aprendizaje: IEEE-RITA, ISSN 1932-8540, Vol. 15, Nº. 3, 2020 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Agosto), págs. 242-251
Idioma: inglés
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Resumen
- The gap between male and female participation in computer science education and careers is a worldwide issue that must be addressed by introducing early methodological learning interventions that make computer science attractive to all, that is by answering the following issues: a) misperception among educators, learners, parents and youngsters on the suitability of computer science careers to girls and b) a wrong assumption of an insufficient preparedness to do it successfully. This article presents a European initiative - CODING4GIRLS - that proposes to teach coding through a game design and development process based on a design thinking methodological approach that is linked to creativity and human-centered solutions. In this methodology, students address increasingly complex real-life challenges by designing and developing awareness raising serious games for which they need to learn specific coding concepts.