Digital Smarts - Gender Stereotypes about Coding Ability Start Very Early

A recent study published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology found that experience with programming robots can make young girls more interested in technology and more confident in their abilities in related subjects, however programming experience did not diminish girls' gendered stereotypes about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) ability. The first graders in the study, girls and boys alike, thought that boys were better at programming and robots.

This is the first study to find that children as young as age six have stereotypes about programming and robotics ability, wrote the researchers. It was surprising to see that gendered stereotypes about programming took hold so early, noted Allison Master, a research scientist at the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences at the University of Washington and the lead researcher of the study. She also mentioned that these attitudes are part of a well-established and much larger trend of thinking in society.