Girl-friendly computer science classroom: Czechitas experience report

Abstract

The under-representation of girls within software engineering has far-reaching consequences, from social to economical. For the moment, curriculum design is being widely discussed as the essential factor that teachers can adapt to influence their education’s inclusiveness. However, in building an inclusive learning environment, effective pedagogy is even more crucial, fostering controlled work with students’ strengths, weaknesses, interest in the topic, sense of belonging, and experience of success. In this paper, we collect effective strategies for building a girl-friendly classroom environment that is inclusive towards novice computer science learners, and we pair them with the practical experience from a successful education NGO called Czechitas, specialized in female-tailored computing courses.