Raspberry Pi promotes computing to girls through GBIC programme

This means that all primary and secondary schools in England can take part in upcoming trials for the programme.

Young women are severely underrepresented in STEM subjects across primary and secondary education. Factors suggested to contribute include girls feeling like they don’t belong in the subject or its community, a lack of sustained encouragement, and a lack of role models in computing when making their career choices.

The GBIC programme has been funded by the Department for Education, allowing the company to work with schools to investigate different approaches to engage girls in computing and to help increase the number of girls who select Computer Science at GCSE and A level.

It’s a collaboration between the Raspberry Pi Foundation; STEM Learning; BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT; and the Behavioural Insights Team.

Operationally, Raspberry Pi is leading the project together with the Behavioural Insights Team, with Apps for Good and Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) also contributing to the project.

Trials will run in 2019–2022 in key stages 1–4, and over 15,000 pupils and 550 schools will be involved.

There will be several trials for different approaches to encourage girls into computer science study.

The first, which started in September, is the non-formal learning trial. “We seek to strengthen the links between non-formal learning and studying computing at GCSE or A level,” the company says of the trial.

Girls are also better represented in non-formal computing clubs than in formal settings where computing is taught, i.e. they are engaging with computing outside of the classroom, but not in their formal studies.

For this trial, the company has created resources for schools running Code Clubs and Apps for Good programmes which signpost the links between non-formal and formal learning of computing, and how these can lead to future career/subject choices later in the participants’ lives.

The second trial will tackle girls’ “lack of belonging” because they don’t see themselves represented in computing media coverage.

Raspberry Pi plans to introduce girls between school years six and eight and their parents to positive role models in computer science, deliver testimonials from these role models at key transition points in their education (such as while making their GCSE choices), and encourage the development of peer support networks.

The third trial will demonstrate for students the real-world relevance of learning computing. The company says it will support schools holding stimulus days that engage pupils by helping them to solve real-world problems through technology.

It will also encourage pupils to develop projects that solve problems that are relevant to their local area, home, or classroom. Classroom resources will be provided to help students explore real-world applications of computing.

The teaching approach trial is based on the idea that current approaches to teaching computing may not be fully inclusive and so may be less appealing to girls. In key stage 1, Raspberry Pi plans to trial a “storytelling around computing” approach. In stages 2 and 3, it will explore different types of teaching approaches to assess what the most effective mix is for engaging girls in the subject.

There is also an innovation trial the company plans to develop based on any additional promising research pathways that emerge while the GBIC project progresses.