CASE STUDY: Advancing Elementary-School Girls’ Programming through Game Design

Rapid technological changes and developments have been seen in schools and workplaces throughout the last decade. However, girls’ representation in technology studies has not grown in accordance. Some scholars have suggested that computer gaming could be an entry point for girls to engage with technology, mathematics,and science (Van Eck, 2006). This case study describes how we introduced a class of 5th-grade girls to programming via a computer-game design approach. Although the case study is exploratory, implications are drawn for the potential role of gamedesign as a vehicle to involve more girls in computer science.