Computing science: what do pupils think?

Alison Mitchell, Helen C. Purchase, John Hamer

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference PaperOtherpeer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

University marketing endeavours attempt to encourage school leavers to study Computing Science; the success of such attempts are becoming increasingly crucial as we see a drop in Computing Science enrollments. However, the marketing typically focusses on presenting Computing Science from the point of view of how we academics view it, with little understanding of what school pupils know of Computing Science, or their perceptions of it. We report on an extensive study into high school students' perceptions of Computing Science as a discipline, degree programme and career, and conclude that few students have a clear notion as to what Computing Science is, and that their perceptions of the discipline develop early on in their school career.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationITiCSE-2009 - Proceedings of the 2009 ACM SIGCSE Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery (ACM)
Pages353
Number of pages1
ISBN (Print)9781605583815
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2009
Externally publishedYes
EventAnnual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education 2009 - Paris, France
Duration: 6 Jul 20098 Jul 2009
https://dl.acm.org/toc/sigcse/2009/41/3 (Proceedings)

Conference

ConferenceAnnual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education 2009
Abbreviated titleITiCSE-2009
Country/TerritoryFrance
CityParis
Period6/07/098/07/09
Internet address

Keywords

  • Perceptions
  • Recruitment
  • School pupils

Cite this