From Personas to Programming: Gender-specific Effects of Design Thinking-Based Computing Education at Secondary Schools

TL;DR

This study explores how a design thinking curriculum impacts gender differences in software engineering interest and social-emotional well-being among secondary students.

Contribution

It provides empirical evidence that design thinking can enhance girls' self-efficacy, interest, and well-being in computing education.

Findings

Girls showed significant gains in self-efficacy and interest.

Positive emotions peaked during creative, collaborative phases.

Technical tasks caused boredom, especially among boys.

Abstract

Creative approaches to attract students to software engineering at an early age are emerging, yet their differential impact on gender remains unclear. This study investigates whether design thinking's empathy-driven approach addresses the documented gender gap in interest in software engineering. In a 10-week curriculum-integrated design thinking software development course with 55 secondary school students aged 13-15 from two schools in Canada, we examined gendered differences in perceived gains in knowledge and interest, as well as in social-emotional experiences. Our results show that both girls and boys gained perceived knowledge in software development. However, girls showed significant improvements in self-efficacy, interest, engagement with sustainability topics, and well-being, including optimism, sense of usefulness, and social connectedness. Positive emotions were strongest during creative, collaborative phases, while technical tasks led to some boredom, especially among boys, though they still benefited overall. This suggests that human-centred design thinking might be one effective way to address gender equity challenges, though we need more differentiated technical implementations.