Effects on Girls’ Emotions During Gamification Tasks with Male Priming in STEM Subjects via Eye Tracking

Abstract

In the war of talents, there is great potential in female workers. It is important to gain the interest of female students in science–technology–mathematics–engineering (STEM) courses during their school time. One aim of our study was to find out which emotions teen girls (age 13–15) have while doing (block) programming gamification tasks and observe them while doing binary code calculation and building a Calliope mini piano (no gamification tasks). An eye tracker with an emotion software (based on Facial Action Coding System) measures their emotions during the gamification tasks. The girls were first divided into different groups, then primed in different gender stereotypes (Pro-STEM, Anti-STEM, and no priming). It was noticeable that the girls who were primed with Anti-STEM achieved better results in the programming game. This could be due to the age of the girls (puberty). It could be observed that the girls enjoyed the gamification tasks. The other tasks were hardly noticed. Gamification is one key to reach them.