Gender-Aware Course Reform in Scientific Computing

Abstract

The objective of the course reform project presented here was to perform a top-to-bottom reform of the introductory courses in Scientific Computing at Uppsala University. The reform was made gender-aware to make the courses more attractive to women students and in that way broaden the base of recruitment for the courses, the subject and the programs where the courses are present. In the long run we see this reform as a part of a larger process of change of the Master of Science in Engineering programs. The emphasis for the course reform is on constructive alignment and students’ sense-making. The underlying hypothesis is that women students’ pay particular attention to sense-making, and courses well-aligned with course goals contribute to sense-making. The traditional way of teaching courses in Scientific Computing does not align with the overall motivation and goal of the subject. The courses lack constructive alignment. In this report we describe a way to re-design the course activities in a way such that constructive alignment is achieved. Results that support the underlying hypothesis are presented. Excerpts from students’ answers to course evaluations and questionnaires provide empirical evidence that the course reform has been successful.