In Pursuit of CS-based Educational Content Suitable for Broader Audiences

Abstract

The important role that technology will play in the future requires that IT literacy, IT fluency, and interest in IT careers, in particular, increase significantly in the near future. This study investigates relationships between a variety of student attributes (e.g., general educational interests, classroom behavior, and gender) and engagement with a set of introductory CS-based educational activities. The goal of the study is to gain a better understanding of how to design CS-based educational content that appeals to broader student populations. Among other findings, the study revealed (unsurprisingly) that interest in math played a significant role in the level of engagement for males having STEM-related interests, while interest in reading played a significant role in the level of engagement for females having non-STEM related interests. The most significant finding of the study was that females having non-STEM related interests engaged more extensively than all other student populations.