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Girls in Engineering Draw a Computer Scientist

There is a large gender disparity in computing: women are underrepresented. By exposing girls to computing activities in a summer day camp, and using near-peers as teachers, we found differences in perceptions the girls held about computer scientists between those on the first day of camp with those on the last day of camp. We describe the day camp program, the participants, and the activity used to investigate the girls' perceptions of computer scientists. The "Draw a Computer Scientist' activity was used to determine how the stereotypes of a computer scientist and the day camp have influenced the girls. The only instruction given to the participants was to draw what they thought a computer scientist looked like. Key drawing characteristics were identified and quantified in a blind coding process, then compared across pre-camp and post-camp drawings. The results suggest that exposing girls to other female engineers and engaging them in age-appropriate engineering activities broadened their perspectives on what a computer scientist looks like.