Gender Differences In Learning Programming: An Analysis by Students’ Perception

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume V, Issue IV, April 2021 | ISSN 2454–6186

Gender Differences In Learning Programming: An Analysis by Students’ Perception

N.D.Gunasekara
Department of Information Technology ATI Gampaha, SLIATE, Sri Lanka

Abstract— In computer science, an expected outcome of a student’s education is programming skill. Although the teacher expects the students to master the programming language, there is a doubt whether the student had achieved the teachers’ expectations. So it is desirable to get the students’ viewpoint on what they had achieved and what are obstacles they come across. Thus, this study aims at investigating the students’ perception towards programming and also whether the perception varies based on gender. 241 students who studied the subject Structured Programming at Sri Lanka Institute of Advanced Technological Education had attended the survey. Results show that although both male and female students believe programming is important for a future career there is a strong gender affect in their perception on curricula and their ability of program. The male students outperform female students in understanding the concepts, working in the programming development environment and fixing bugs. Male students find programming interesting and they tend to assist female students. Although programming is a practical based subject, both male and female students feel participating in lectures help them to learn programming better. For attitudinal change of female students and to enhance the performance of all students, teachers can use tools like Alice, Scratch to better visualize programs or techniques like pair programming, peer instruction to enhance student collaboration. The results of this study can be used as a base for future research on teaching methodology for programming subjects. Examining relationship between perception and performance will extend and expand the findings.

Keywords—Programming, Perception, Factors , Learning

I.INTRODUCTION
In computer science, an expected outcome of a student’s education is programming skill. (Alexandra Funke, 2001). In most computer science courses programming is taught from the beginning of the course and taught throughout many semesters advancing depth wise by digging in to many theories and expanding breadth wise

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