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Personal Stories

Personal Stories. biology. math. chemistry. computer science. Source: National Science Foundation. What role do perceptions of computer scientists play in explaining gender disparities in CS?. Computer science majors are…

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Personal Stories

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  1. Personal Stories

  2. biology math chemistry computer science Source: National Science Foundation

  3. What role do perceptions of computer scientistsplay in explaining gender disparities in CS?

  4. Computer science majors are… • “Nerdy, techie, stay up late coding and drinking energy drinks, no social life.” • “Pale, sometimes socially frustrated, inquisitive, skilled, focused.” • “They are usually guys, very intense, very intelligent, intuitive, and quick. They don't frequently take showers.”

  5. Stereotypes of computer science majors Socially awkward, obsessed with computers Associated with males more than other fields like math, chemistry and biology More homogenous than other fields Cheryan & Plaut, in prep

  6. How are stereotypes communicated? • Media • Interactions with others • Environments

  7. MEDIA: TV and Movies Revenge of the Nerds Star Trek: The Next Generation Real Genius Source: National Science Foundation

  8. MEDIA: Geek Squad

  9. MEDIA: “Northwest Profiles”

  10. Environments Source: Valley of the Boys (1999)

  11. Environments Source: Valley of the Boys (1999)

  12. Environments Source: Valley of the Boys (1999)

  13. Our research on the impact of these perceptions

  14. Hypotheses The stereotype of computer scientists turns women away from the field. The stereotype of computer scientists interferes with women’s sense of belonging with those in the field. This stereotype can be communicated through physical environments.

  15. Materializing stereotypes Our experiment • College students listed objects that are associated with: • Computer Science environment • Regular office environment • No gender difference • Perceptions of non-CS majors reflected

  16. Stereotypical CS Objects • Star Wars and Star Trek items • Electronics • Software • Tech magazines • computer parts • video games • computer books • science fiction books

  17. Non-stereotypical objects • Water bottles • Pens • Coffee maker • Art pictures • Nature pictures • Lamps • General magazines • Plants

  18. SecondLife™ as a research tool Secondlife™ as a research tool • Virtual environment that enables: • Visual presentation of stimuli • More realistic simulation • More detailed analysis (avatar’s location, duration of observation, etc)

  19. Virtualclassroomenvironments Stereotypical room

  20. Virtualclassroomenvironments Nonstereotypical room

  21. Results of our study

  22. Impact of stereotypes Interaction: F(1, 128)=32.02, p<.001

  23. Impact of stereotypes Interaction: F(1, 128)=16.54, p<.001

  24. “We'd go to lunch, and they just would talk about tape drives and hardware and wires and machines. It was my first realization that I was with a bunch of people I had nothing in common with.” Monika Khushf Director of Engineering, Intuit “It’s like, ‘Oh, my gosh, this isn’t for me’… I don’t dream in code like they do.” Female student at Carnegie Mellon (Marolis & Fischer, 2001) “When I first walked into classroom A all of the Star Trek and Star Wars memoribilia seemed pretty nerdy to me and I don’t want to be stuck in a class with all geeks regardless of their sex.” Female participant

  25. What we are doing now Role model study

  26. Ways To Change The Image of Computing?

  27. Discussion Questions (in small groups) • What is your personal engineering story? What lessons about diversity, leadership, and engineering can you contribute? • How do you negotiate your own identity as an engineer with your other identities (e.g., family, racial, gender)

  28. Takeaways • Individual experience intersects with group experiences (Can’t assume that all members of a group have the same preferences or experiences) • We all have multiple identities; importance of intersectionality

  29. Minute Paper What motivates resistance to diversity in engineering?

  30. Assignment • Readings on Resistance to Diversity (note e-reserves mixup) • Catalyst Questions

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