This article aims to put a learning concept up for discussion, which is based on context-based access. We describe a concept designed to inspire girls in particular with regard to information technology. Problems from the field of medicine motivate pupils to create self-designed algorithms with the goal of helping people. Through positive self-efficacy experiences, this access is intended to facilitate the engagement with digital technologies. In this way, we aim primarily to reduce the gender gap in computer science that is described in the literature. We offer concrete teaching examples within a framework of informatics at Secondary Level 1, which are intended to help appeal to more girls in computer science lessons.
The literature suggests a gender imbalance in computer science to the disadvantage of
girls. If the creation of self-designed algorithms is considered a digital skill, then the
gender gap thus also holds for the area of digitalization. In our article, we would
therefore like to put an approach up for discussion, according to which it might be
possible to reduce the existing gender imbalance through suitable learning scenarios.
In this regard, we will draw on context-based access, as described in Koubek et al.
[
However, the incorporation of medical aspects into computer science lessons is complicated (in a small survey) through a lack of acceptance among teachers. In this article, we will therefore demonstrate a practicable solution that is accepted by the teachers in the survey, namely the conception of a computer science pupil laboratory course with medical topics. 2
The study "Digital Gender Gap" [
The Conference of German Education Ministers has published a strategy paper on
“education in the digital world” regarding schools [
In our project we therefore want to develop learning scenarios with the potential to reduce this gender gap. 3
Magenheim and Schulte write in their study that there are gender-specific differences
in the expectations of computer science education. Accordingly, boys are significantly
more often classified in the group of people interested in software development and
programming. Girls are more often interested in applications and consequences in
computer science education [
The ways of thinking, strategies and tools of computer science are used to solve
problems that occur in other (life) areas. Pupils do not solve inner informatics problems
but use informatics to solve problems in other areas. The purpose is central.
Initial experiences with the teaching of informatics theories in medical contexts were
made in the academic years 2007 - 2010 in a course for grades 7 to 9 at a grammar
school. The tasks for the different topics have been published in parts as teaching
material [
In advance of a cross-school further training measure, participating teachers were surveyed on a selection of Scratch tasks with equivalent levels of difficulty regarding how suitable they considered these to be for their pupils. The teachers were able to rate the individual tasks on a Likert scale ranging from (1) “unsuitable” to (5) “highly suitable”. Tasks with a medical context received an average rating of 2.77 (N=22). Tasks with equivalent levels of difficulty without a specific context were rated 3.64 (N=22). A second survey took place after the first two months of the further training measure, during which the teachers had also engaged with context-based tasks that work well in lessons. On the same scale, the tasks with a medical context now received an average rating of 2.40 (N=21). Tasks with the same level of difficulty in the area of “Games” now received a rating of 3.67 (N=21).
Individual interviews with participants regarding the ratings of context-based tasks gave rise to two problems that evidently influence acceptance: • Context-based tasks are too text-heavy for pupils, because the context requires clarification. • One concern of the teachers is that they do not have enough specialist knowledge with regard to the relevant context. In their view, a time-consuming familiarization with the context would be required.
In order to ameliorate the first problem, a one-minute film was recorded by the author, in which the context and the problem definition were clarified. Here, the same task was intentionally used and posed again in text form. The suitability of the task in text form now received a rating of 2.7 (N=24); thus, there was no change vis-à-vis the first surveys. By contrast, the teachers rated suitability of the film for the pupils considerably better, with a rating of 3.5 (N=24).
With regard to the second problem, the author considered outsourcing the context to a pupil laboratory course. The course was meant to be oriented towards the current informatics knowledge of the pupils, but to be embedded in a medical context. The teachers were introduced to the course conception and were asked whether they agree with the following statement (1: “I do not agree” to 5: “I agree completely”): “Oneoff experiences, such as a visit to a pupil lab course on medical informatics, can show pupils that the things taught and learned at school are relevant and relate to everyday life.” The average rating of 3.75 (N=24) is higher than the film version.
The course conception can be found in the following chapter. The beginning of the courses was imminent. Due to the Corona crisis, however, we will only be able to carry out the evaluation in the next academic year; as such, we do not yet have any results. 5
Course conception “Informatics helps!”
We have designed a medical informatics course for pupils of grades 9 to 10, which we
intend to offer via the Experimental Laboratory for Young People (XLAB) at the
University of Göttingen in cooperation with the Medical Informatics Research Group
[
The course will incorporate the following five stations: • Image analysis of ultrasound images (e.g. create an algorithm for marking points on an ultrasound image. The size of an embryo, for example, can then be measured automatically) (see Fig. 1). 5 The real ultrasound device provides a reference to the real world. As most ultrasound examinations involve the measuring of specific lengths or areas on the ultrasound image, it is even likely that some pupils in the learning group can recall this situation. In addition, films showing this examination are presented on a display, so that the examination method is transparent. Digital ultrasound images are uploaded onto a Scratch 3 platform. The pupils thus program (in a didactically reduced way) a system with similar functionality as in a real application. This represents an experience that can contribute to a strengthening of the pupil’s sense of self-efficacy. • Development of a heat monitoring system for newborns (e.g. create an algorithm that uses different coloured lamps to provide feedback on whether the temperature in the warmth bed is too high or too low.) As can be seen in the figure 2, this algorithm can be solved simply and does not require any additional sensors for the Calliope. A refined visualization of the temperature is conceivable. The warmth bed in the figure makes the helping aspect more tangible. An integrated warmth lamp facilitates the testing of the program, as there are different temperatures in the bed.
• Development of a diagnostic software for the ophthalmologist (e.g. create an algorithm that automatically displays the Landolt C Eye Chart in different rotations and sizes) (see Fig. 3).
As the figure demonstrates, this task can be solved very easily. By contrast, entire eye charts with progressively decreasing Landolt rings or only specific rotations are more complex in terms of programming. This supports the ophthalmologist, as patients may rote learn the direction of a fixed eye chart after several trials, and a computer program can allow greater flexibility. Posters with explanations of near- and farsightedness create an even stronger reference to real life applications which creates links with the areas of optics or biology.
algorithm that reports whether the compressions are done in the correct beat, e.g. create an algorithm that provides feedback on the compression depth).
A part of this station is illustrated in the following figure (Fig. 4). By creating the algorithms, the learners use didactically reduced resuscitation phantoms. Real resuscitation phantoms and posters with information on first aid and current research in this field create the real-life relevance for this application. An external pressure sensor for the Calliope board is required. The figure shows a part of a possible implementation (Fig. 4). This requires initial knowledge of the area of algorithmics, e.g. the function of a “flag”. By combining complex problems and those that can be solved more simply, the heterogeneity of each learning group is accounted for. • Development of a simplified heart rate monitor (e.g. create an algorithm that measures and displays the data of a heart rate sensor).
A heartrate sensor for the Calliope board like the one in the figure (Fig. 5) will be made available to the pupils. From the perspective of algorithmics, this station is comparable to the resuscitation phantom. Can girls be better addressed in the field of informatics and thus also in digital education by embedding informatics problems into a medical and social context? Is it possible to reduce the digital gender gap at school by giving girls access to other areas of computer science through self-efficacy experiences in appropriate learning scenarios?
Our initial experience and a literature search suggest an affirmative answer. We outlined the course conception of an informatics course with a medical context, which releases teachers from the time-consuming familiarization and organisation of context-based material in Chapter 5. An evaluation can only take place when visits to the student laboratory are possible again after the Corona crisis.