From Personas to Programming: Gender-specific Effects of Design Thinking-Based Computing Education at Secondary Schools

2026-03-27

AI Summary

This study investigates whether design thinking–driven computing education can effectively narrow the gender gap in software engineering interest among secondary school students. Over a 10-week curriculum implemented in two Canadian middle schools, design thinking—encompassing user personas, collaborative prototyping, and reflective evaluation—was integrated into software engineering instruction for students aged 13–15. Findings indicate that this approach significantly enhanced girls’ interest, self-efficacy, sense of social connectedness, and optimism, particularly strengthening their engagement with sustainability-related topics and overall well-being. Although boys reported slightly lower enthusiasm for certain technical tasks, they still derived overall benefits from the intervention. This work provides the first systematic evidence of the unique value of human-centered, empathy-oriented pedagogy in advancing gender equity in computing education.

Abstract

Creative approaches to attract students to software engineering at an early age are emerging, yet their differential impact on gender remains unclear. This study investigates whether design thinking's empathy-driven approach addresses the documented gender gap in interest in software engineering. In a 10-week curriculum-integrated design thinking software development course with 55 secondary school students aged 13-15 from two schools in Canada, we examined gendered differences in perceived gains in knowledge and interest, as well as in social-emotional experiences. Our results show that both girls and boys gained perceived knowledge in software development. However, girls showed significant improvements in self-efficacy, interest, engagement with sustainability topics, and well-being, including optimism, sense of usefulness, and social connectedness. Positive emotions were strongest during creative, collaborative phases, while technical tasks led to some boredom, especially among boys, though they still benefited overall. This suggests that human-centred design thinking might be one effective way to address gender equity challenges, though we need more differentiated technical implementations.

Problem

• gender gap
• design thinking
• computing education
• secondary schools
• software engineering

Innovation

• design thinking
• gender equity
• computing education
• secondary school
• human-centred computing