Female Under-Representation in Computing Education and Industry - A Survey of Issues and Interventions <s> B. Socio-cultural factors <s> This article discusses (a) the potential advantages of learning computer programming, (b) the performance of males and females in middle school programming courses, (c) the problems teachers face in achieving this potential, and (d) the participation of males and females in programming courses. Females comprise about 40% of the students enrolled in middle school programming courses. They perform, on the average, as well as or better than the males, and comprise 60% of the most talented students. Significantly, neither males nor females make very much progress in learning to program and, therefore, in acquiring any of the general cognitive skills which might potentially result from programming courses. <s> BIB001 </s> Female Under-Representation in Computing Education and Industry - A Survey of Issues and Interventions <s> B. Socio-cultural factors <s> As the number of students enrolling in computing majors [computer science (CS), information systems (IS), information technology (IT)] has declined, retaining students in these curricula becomes increasingly important. Student success is important to retention, and one of the premises of this study is that meeting the challenges of demanding curricula often requires more than innate intelligence. To explore this assumption, two intrapersonal variables rarely studied in the computing field were measured: coping strategies and emotional intelligence as contributors to within-major grade point average (GPA). Based on data collected from 613 upper-level undergraduate students enrolled at multiple universities in the USA, the effects of coping strategies and emotional intelligence on academic performance were tested, with self-efficacy (SE) used as a covariate. The results indicate that SE is related to academic success for computing students. Emotional intelligence does predict SE for computing students. However, computing and noncomputing majors differed significantly on emotional intelligence and the ldquoaccommodationrdquo coping strategy. Further, the ldquochange the situationrdquo coping strategy was directly linked to academic success for noncomputing students, but not for computing students. Implications of these findings are discussed. <s> BIB002 </s> Female Under-Representation in Computing Education and Industry - A Survey of Issues and Interventions <s> B. Socio-cultural factors <s> Gender distinctions as dichotomous categories are perpetuated and maintained by social mechanisms and are socially constructed. Part of this social construction is reproduced by many social scientists who adopt mainstream cultural categories of gender and, through theoretical or methodological biases, fail to question them, or who, by their own practices, reinforce them. This analysis is an overview of the epistemological and methodolical practices that reinforce gender distinctions and neglect reporting of similarities. Rejecting several models used to explain cultural differences, an alternative mode of analysis—multiplicity and proteanism—is proposed as a more productive perspective in the analysis of gender. <s> BIB003 </s> Female Under-Representation in Computing Education and Industry - A Survey of Issues and Interventions <s> B. Socio-cultural factors <s> In this article I flesh out support for observations that scientific accounts of social groups can influence the very groups and mental phenomena under investigation. The controversial hypothesis that there are hardwired differences between the brains of males and females that contribute to sex differences in gender-typed behaviour is common in both the scientific and popular media. Here I present evidence that such claims, quite independently of their scientific validity, have scope to sustain the very sex differences they seek to explain. I argue that, while further research is required, such claims can have self-fulfilling effects via their influence on social perception, behaviour and attitudes. The real effects of the products of scientists’ research on our minds and society, together with the fact that all scientific hypotheses are subject to dispute and disconfirmation, point to a need for scientists to consider the ethical implications of their work. <s> BIB004
Studies into factors that determine success in computing indicate that self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation, which are socially constructed, are key factors as opposed to the innate intelligence or ability of the students. This argument provides strong evidence that innate human qualities (or intelligence) www.ijacsa.thesai.org are not a pre-requisite for success in computing education BIB002 . Also a growing body of research challenges the inherent characteristics arguments linked to gender differences on the basis that the differences are socially constructed BIB003 , BIB004 . Empirical studies carried out to determine the effect of sex differences on mathematical ability and spatial visualization indicate that there are no significant gender differences in performance BIB001 ,  . Furthermore, the socio-cultural argument suggests that the differences with computer science linked abilities are socially engineered as there are no identified cognitive variations. However there are significant differences in self-confidence. This is higher in the boys as they believe that mathematics and computing is an exclusive domain for males BIB001 ,  .