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This is a topic of high interest to me personally. Over the past couple of years I have been teaching middle school students how to code on and off. I am also a
by 20years 9y ago
This is a topic of high interest to me personally. Over the past couple of years I have been teaching middle school students how to code on and off. I am also a female who has been coding for close to 20 years now.
In the classes I teach, the girls are usually far beyond the boys. They get this stuff so much quicker and at a much deeper level. They are so much more focused and really try to understand what everything means.
The boys need instant gratification. They want to hack and mess around with the code but most don't want to really try and understand what it all means. They also need way more confirmation from the other boys in the class. They all create their games and show them off to the other boys and then they all try to one up each other. This is how they are motivated. They also completely exclude the girls from this.
In my current class of 17, there are 5 girls. All 5 are far ahead of all of the boys and 3 of those girls are already doing the advanced stuff. 4 of those girls sit together and actually seem to be annoyed by the boys antics. This has been similar in all of the classes/workshops I have taught.
It has been a very interesting observation which has convinced me that the boys club type behavior starts very early. What I am not convinced of is that we should necessarily try and change the boys behavior as long as they are not specifically offending the girls. I worry that this would suppress their instinctual way of being motivated and learning. I can also understand however why girls bail out, which is unfortunate in itself being that even at this early age, they are so good at it. I am not really sure what the answer is other than trying to encourage girls to stick with it and give them that support early on.
"There is one other reason I think you see fewer women and minorities as software developers. People tend to do things that they see other people who are "like them" doing"
It helps when other girls are doing it with you like the 5 in my current class.
- FT_intern 9y agoI hope your political beliefs aren't implicitly biasing your teaching against the males. The primary education system seems to be failing males (more female college graduates every year) and it wouldn't help if you added to that. I'm curious, would it be an issue to you if all the boys in the class were "beyond" the girls?
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- 20years 9y agoI am simply stating what I am observing and the different ways males and females learn and what motivates them. I would never advocate not teaching males or giving females priority. Ever! I have a 13 year old son btw. He helps me in these classes. As my comment states: "What I am not convinced of is that we should necessarily try and change the boys behavior as long as they are not specifically offending the girls. I worry that this would suppress their instinctual way of being motivated and learning." I do believe that they learn differently and we need to try and find a way to appeal to both in the different ways they learn and how they are motivated. I personally think the education system is failing both males and females but that is an entirely different discussion.
- gradientdescent 9y agoWhen I was at school (~1995) boys were well ahead in math, physics and computer classes I am totally confused to hear you telling me that girls are ahead of boys in computer programming
- notacoward 9y agoI was already on my third job by 1995, but that was still a long time ago (especially in tech). The most likely explanation for this observation is that teaching in these subjects was too tailored toward boys' learning styles at that time, and has become less so now. The only confusing thing is how this can be true and yet women are still entering the actual profession at even lower rates than they used to.
- gradientdescent 9y agoThank you for just following the path I layed for you So what? Males and females need different teaching styles and today boys are falling behind girls in math, physics and computers?! Maybe the boys are ahead of girls in languages and other soft-skill subjects today? It always evens out
- notacoward 9y agoYour account almost sounds like an argument for separate boys' and girls' classes. Learning styles are definitely very different, especially at that age (I have a 12yo daughter BTW), so it's pretty intuitive that teaching styles should be also. Since it's hard to teach two ways in one class, the obvious answer would be separate classes. I'm not exactly advocating that, because there are compelling arguments both ways on this issue, but the specific experience you describe seems to point that way.
- 20years 9y agoIt is something I have thought about but worry could do more harm than good in the long run. Partly because that is not how things are done in the real world. I am not really sure what the answer or solution is.