Spending an hour learning computer basics may positively change students’ attitudes about computer science and increase their feelings of self-efficacy where that subject is concerned—especially among girls, suggests a study.
The study focuses on 563 classrooms participating in Hour of Code, a one-hour classroom program aimed at demystifying computer science. After completing the program, 75 percent of high school girls with no previous computer science experience said they liked the subject. That’s up from 55 percent prior to the activity. The study was conducted by Code.org, the national nonprofit group that promotes Hour of Code.