Storylines in figured worlds: Understanding diverse college students’ decision to major in computer science

Given the workforce demand for computer scientists, especially more racially, ethnically, and gender diverse computer scientists (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2016), significant efforts have been made to recruit underrepresented groups to major in computer science (CS; National Science Foundation, 2018). However, there is very little research on how underrepresented students decide to major in computer science. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand how racially, ethnically, linguistically, and gender diverse students in an introductory CS course, at a Hispanic-serving university on the U.S.-Mexico border, decided to major in CS. Findings demonstrate that participants drew on four principal storylines to decide to major in CS: social mobility and opportunity storylines, user storylines, interest storylines, and underrepresentation storylines. Students’ storylines stemmed from multiple sources, including but not limited to the media and family. Findings also show that students’ storylines did not align with official storylines found in the figured world of CS in higher education. Rather, results illustrated the nuanced ways in which the media, family, friends, and school personnel influenced students’ storylines to shape their decision to major in CS. Implications for practice and policy are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)