From Science to Computing: A Study of Capital Among Bioinformatics Students

Contribution: This article applies science capital research to computing education in order to understand why students engage with a programme involving computing, and what they aspire to get out of their education. Background: Capital is a concept which has been used in educational research to study inequality, aspiration and achievement. Previous work has looked at capital in science education, but misses out on discipline-specific capital. This article applies science capital research to the field of computing education, providing insight into students’ views and dispositions of computing, their confidence and knowledge, and other factors which are important for understanding student engagement with the subject. Research Questions: How can science capital research be adapted to computing education? Further to this, what insights can be generated from such a methodology? Methodology: Inspired by the concept of science capital, a survey has been developed and tested among 29 bioinformatics students with a biology background. These students were selected since they recently switched to a programme involving computing, allowing them to reflect on their motivation, aspirations, and outcome expectations. Informed by the initial results, a follow-up interview was designed, and ten students participated. Findings: Science capital research proves useful for studying factors underlying participation in computing. Students in this study are driven by career opportunities, as well as positive beliefs and values when it comes to computing, while perceiving barriers such as low levels of computing confidence, and a gap between their skills and future careers. In addition, gender differences among survey results were observed $(p\,\,=$ 0.002).