Gender Differences in Class Participation in Core CS Courses

In terms of students enrolled, post-secondary computer science classes are typically male dominated, which can create a baseline perception of male dominance in class participation. This paper presents our analysis of participation scores received by male and female students in two core computer science classes across ten quarters at the University of California, Davis. We use this data to explore the question: Is there a difference in male and female participation scores, and does this disproportionately impact male and female students’ final grades? We find a small gender gap in overall participation scores, but no significant difference between the rate at which male and female students’ grades benefit from participation points. However, we do see a difference in behavior when it comes to different formats of participation: males score higher on average in more public formats, such as lecture and forum, while females score higher in more anonymous formats, such as survey completion. Therefore, instructors should diversify their definitions of participation to accommodate for gender correlated preferences in participation formats. Furthermore, we find that the top scorers in the most public forms of participation are disproportionately male. This explains the perception of a larger gender gap in participation than actually exists, which can enforce the stereotype that males have a greater aptitude for CS than females. Finally, although our data show differences in participation behaviors between genders, future research should be conducted to investigate what is driving these differences.