Scratch Project Analysis: Relationship Between Gender and Computational Thinking Skill

Abstract

The computer science industry suffers from a significant gender gap. This situation likely hinders the creation of inclusive and user-friendly systems due to a bias in perspectives. To narrow this gender gap, this study investigates how females program to increase interest in computer sciences. Specifically, 60 open Scratch projects on the web are analyzed to clarify differences in the Computational Thinking scores with respect to gender. The difference in the Computational Thinking score by gender suggests that the gap may be due to the lack of the Synchronization element in female users’ projects. A deeper understanding of how people program based on gender should support creating an effective and inclusive learning environment and allow educators to create programming materials that attract both genders equally into the field.