Dwindling Number of Female Students: What Are We Missing?

There is a common agreement among researchers that women are under-represented in both 2-year and 4-year collegiate computer study programs. In spite of twenty years of research, the number of women graduating with computer degrees continues to decline, suggesting that perhaps there are causal factors that have not been identified. This paper describes an alternate approach; asking a group of female students who are pursuing a computer technology degree at a community college to describe experiences which have affected their academic success. A significant finding was that the women struggled to understand the [deductive] problem solving method used by the instructors and the pace of the classes made it difficult for them to work out their own problem solving approach. (This paper is taken from a broader dissertation which explored other facets of the women’s experiences as well.)