Story Lines in Figured Worlds: Understanding Diverse College Students' Decision to Major in Computer Science

• In Event: Using an Identity Lens to Explore Latinx Undergraduate Pathways Into and Through STEM

Abstract

Purpose

This paper provides findings on how diverse students in an introductory computer science (CS) course, at a Hispanic-serving institution (HSI) decided to major in CS. Findings are part of a larger ethnographic study focused on department-wide efforts to broaden participation and increase retention among underrepresented groups in CS. In this paper, we highlight the different storylines that students drew on to narrate their decision to major in CS. We also show how students’ storylines differed from the ‘official’ storyline of what constitutes a recognizable—professional—identity in the figured world of CS (Ben-David Kolikant, 2011).

Theoretical Framework

We used sociocultural theories of identity (Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner, & Cain, 2003), to show how students’ narratives about their decision to major in CS represented socially situated and culturally constructed storylines. Within a sociocultural view of identity, storylines are socially reproduced cultural resources that establish and evoke recognizable identities found in a particular figured world, like, an academic degree program in CS.

Methods

We used an ethnographic approach to explore how newcomers self-author themselves into the figured world of CS. Data collection included observations of an introductory CS course and interviews with 18 students. These data were analyzed using a cyclical process of initial and focused coding (Emerson, Fretz, & Shaw, 2011; Saldaña, 2016).

Results

Findings show that students drew on different storylines about CS stemming from multiple sources in an attempt to author themselves into the figured world of CS. In particular, participant accounts illustrated the nuanced ways in which family, friends, and school personnel influenced students’ storylines. Family and friends used social mobility and opportunity storylines to
encourage the participants to major in CS.

Participant narratives also revealed that the decision to major in CS was influenced by user storylines, wherein an interest or an ability to work with computers is weighed heavily when choosing to major in CS. However, when entering the introductory CS course, we begin to see how user storylines were in conflict with the official storylines of faculty. This was further evident in our observations of CS-related activities where we observed the official storyline that highlighted the importance of problem solving, using pseudo code, and computational thinking.

Also noteworthy is the finding that the two participants who drew from underrepresentation storylines were both female and that it was a male high school teacher who introduced them to this particular storyline by also drawing on other storylines such as opportunity and social mobility.

In total, findings highlight how different, and sometimes competing storylines shape diverse students’ decision to major in CS as well as the ways in which students’ storylines are often outside of sanctioned storylines found in the figured world of CS academic degree programs.

Scholarly significance

Implications for policy and practice are that initiatives to broaden participation in CS need to pay attention to students’ storylines. By paying attention to students’ storylines, we can better understand students’ preconceived notions about the major as well as students’ prior experiences and interests.

Authors

• Christina Convertino, The University of Texas - El Paso

• Angelica Monarrez, University of Texas - El Paso