Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 12:13:27 +1100 (EST)
From: Raymond Lister <raymond@it.uts.edu.au>
To: BRACE <brace-list@atlas.otago.ac.nz>
Subject: Cantwell Wilson, 2002



As people find papers relevent to our project, I think they could let us
all know about them.

One relevant paper is:

    Brenda Cantwell Wilson
    A Study of Factors Promoting Success in Computer Science Including
    Gender Differences
    Computer Science Education
    2002, Vol.12, No.1-2, pp. 141-164

Abstract
This study was conducted to determine factors that promote success in an
introductory college computer science course and to determine what, if
any, differences appear between genders on those factors. The model
included math background, attribution for success/failure, self-efficacy,
encouragement, comfort level in the course, work style preference,
previous programming experience, previous non-programming computer
experience, and gender as possible predictive factors for success in the
computer science course. Subjects included 105 students enrolled in an
introductory computer science course. The study revealed three predictive
factors in the following order of importance: comfort level (with a
positive influence), math background (with a positive influence), and
attribution to luck (with a negative influence). No significant gender
differences were found in these three factors. The study also revealed
that both a formal class in programming (which had a positive correlation)
and game playing (which had a negative correlation) were predictive of
success. The study revealed a significant gender difference in game
playing with males reporting more experience with playing games on the
computer than females reported.