Three key ingredients of successful intervention programs designed to encourage girls to study and succeed in computing

JILL GERHARDT, THE RICHARD STOCKTON COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEY, USA
Abstract: This paper describes intervention programs that were designed to encourage girls to study computing and to succeed in computing. The programs include a course called “Bridges” to be taken concurrently with calculus that helps computing students with the subject matter and also demonstrates the relationship between calculus and computing. The second intervention is a freshman seminar designed to recruit women computing majors and to help interested women build computer skills and confidence. The third intervention is a tutoring in programming project. All of these interventions put into practice three key ingredients that help women succeed in computing: 1- Use real-world applications, 2- Implement cooperative learning and 3- Build student-confidence.
Keywords: Female intervention programs, Cooperative learning, female retention, female self-confidence, recruiting females, female success in computing