5 ms·

Let's say I grant the author his points about harming gender balances and programming culture. That still doesn't address the most important question: Is it tru

by chroma 13y ago

Let's say I grant the author his points about harming gender balances and programming culture. That still doesn't address the most important question: Is it true? Is programming an innate ability? It's unclear whether programming can be taught, but the most depressing study in this area is called The Camel Has Two Humps [1]: We have found a test for programming aptitude, of which we give details. We can predict success or failure even before students have had any contact with any programming language with very high accuracy, and by testing with the same instrument after a few weeks of exposure, with extreme accuracy. We present experimental evidence to support our claim. We point out that programming teaching is useless for those who are bound to fail and pointless for those who are certain to succeed. It will take more than this single study to fully convince me, but it definitely put a dent in my initial belief. 1. http://www.eis.mdx.ac.uk/research/PhDArea/saeed/paper1.pdf http://www.eis.mdx.ac.uk/research/PhDArea/saeed/paper1.pdf

yummyfajitas 13y ago
"Two years ago we appeared to have discovered an exciting and enigmatic new predictor of success in a first programming course. We now report that after six experiments, involving more than 500 students at six institutions in three countries, the predictive effect of our test has failed to live up to that early promise." http://www.eis.mdx.ac.uk/research/PhDArea/saeed/paper3.pdf http://www.eis.mdx.ac.uk/research/PhDArea/saeed/paper3.pdf
- chroma 13y ago
  I didn't know there was a new study. Thanks for linking to it. It looks like there's a meta-study too: http://www.eis.mdx.ac.uk/research/PhDArea/saeed/SD_PPIG_2009.pdf http://www.eis.mdx.ac.uk/research/PhDArea/saeed/SD_PPIG_2009...
LanceH 13y ago
My quick and dirty test is if a person uses their right mouse button.
v21 13y ago
At the risk of sneering at science for it's own sake: why is that the most important question? What extent is programming an innate skill doesn't seem to have many obvious utilities, but finding effective methods to address gender disparities in STEM fields does. Not to mention that these studies also indicate that a belief in effort rather than innate skill improves performance for both genders.
- dragonwriter 13y ago
  Why would you want equal representation in the field if the unequal representation were due to genetic differences producing different abilities or inclinations? I don't think most of the current inequality in representation is due to those reasons, but certainly understanding the extent to which those may exist and play a part in determining outcomes has something to say about the results that should be hoped for.

by chroma 13y ago

yummyfajitas 13y ago

"Two years ago we appeared to have discovered an exciting and enigmatic new predictor of success in a first programming course. We now report that after six experiments, involving more than 500 students at six institutions in three countries, the predictive effect of our test has failed to live up to that early promise." http://www.eis.mdx.ac.uk/research/PhDArea/saeed/paper3.pdf http://www.eis.mdx.ac.uk/research/PhDArea/saeed/paper3.pdf

chroma 13y ago
I didn't know there was a new study. Thanks for linking to it. It looks like there's a meta-study too: http://www.eis.mdx.ac.uk/research/PhDArea/saeed/SD_PPIG_2009.pdf http://www.eis.mdx.ac.uk/research/PhDArea/saeed/SD_PPIG_2009...

LanceH 13y ago

My quick and dirty test is if a person uses their right mouse button.

v21 13y ago

At the risk of sneering at science for it's own sake: why is that the most important question? What extent is programming an innate skill doesn't seem to have many obvious utilities, but finding effective methods to address gender disparities in STEM fields does. Not to mention that these studies also indicate that a belief in effort rather than innate skill improves performance for both genders.

dragonwriter 13y ago
Why would you want equal representation in the field if the unequal representation were due to genetic differences producing different abilities or inclinations? I don't think most of the current inequality in representation is due to those reasons, but certainly understanding the extent to which those may exist and play a part in determining outcomes has something to say about the results that should be hoped for.