Abstract:

Informatics (Computer science) is becoming an essential discipline for existing jobs, and more importantly, jobs that still do not exist. An important issue in Informatics is the underrepresentation of the women within the field. Although most studies show small or no differences in abilities between genders, the women are still one of the most underrepresented groups in Informatics and other STEM fields, most likely due to socio-cultural factors, interests, and engagement in the Informatics field. Since teenagers mostly choose their occupational aspirations till the end of elementary school (14 -15 years old), the importance of involving them in Informatics and STEM fields, in general, could be crucial in choosing their future occupations in STEM fields. Many countries made their steps in implementing Informatics into elementary schools’ curriculums, through integration with other subjects or as an elective or mandatory independent school subject. In Croatia from the school year, 2018/19 Informatics is a mandatory and independent subject for fifth and sixth grades of elementary school, while is still elective for seventh and eighth grades. After the first year of implementing the new curriculum in Croatia, we surveyed 936 fifth and sixth-grade students about their attitudes towards Informatics. In this paper, we present the result of attitudes towards Informatics based on gender differences.

Keywords:

Curriculum, informatics, elementary school, gender differences, survey.