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Girl-Friendly Computer Science Classroom: Czechitas Experience Report

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Software Architecture (ECSA 2020)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 1269))

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Abstract

The under-representation of girls within software engineering has far-reaching consequences, from social to economical. For the moment, curriculum design is being widely discussed as the essential factor that teachers can adapt to influence their education’s inclusiveness. However, in building an inclusive learning environment, effective pedagogy is even more crucial, fostering controlled work with students’ strengths, weaknesses, interest in the topic, sense of belonging, and experience of success. In this paper, we collect effective strategies for building a girl-friendly classroom environment that is inclusive towards novice computer science learners, and we pair them with the practical experience from a successful education NGO called Czechitas, specialized in female-tailored computing courses.

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Acknowledgements

The writing of this article was supported in part by Vector Stiftung, Project “Mädchen für Informatik begeistern” at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Czechitas, Prague, Czech Republic

    Barbora Buhnova

  2. Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic

    Barbora Buhnova

  3. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Lucia Happe

Authors
  1. Barbora Buhnova
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  2. Lucia Happe
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Barbora Buhnova .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of L’Aquila, L’Aquila, Italy

    Henry Muccini

  2. University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Paris Avgeriou

  3. Faculty of Informatics, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic

    Barbora Buhnova

  4. Department of Computer Science, University of York, York, UK

    Javier Camara

  5. Department of Computer Science, Linnaeus University, Växjö, Sweden

    Mauro Caporuscio

  6. University of L’Aquila, L’Aquila, Italy

    Mirco Franzago

  7. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Anne Koziolek

  8. University of Bergamo, Dalmine, Italy

    Patrizia Scandurra

  9. Gran Sasso Science Institute, L’Aquila, Italy

    Catia Trubiani

  10. Department of Computer Science, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Danny Weyns

  11. Faculty of Computer Science, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Uwe Zdun

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Buhnova, B., Happe, L. (2020). Girl-Friendly Computer Science Classroom: Czechitas Experience Report. In: Muccini, H., et al. Software Architecture. ECSA 2020. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1269. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59155-7_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59155-7_10

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-59154-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-59155-7

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