Video Games Help to Prepare Girls for a Competitive Future in STEM An
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Video games help to prepare girls for a competitive future in STEM An analysis of how video games help to build visual-spatial skills and the positive influence early childhood gaming can have on girls A thesis submitted to the School of Visual Communication Design, College of Communication and Information of Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts by Leigh A. Hughes may, 2017 Thesis written by Leigh A. Hughes B.A., Kent State University, 2002 M.F.A., Kent State University, 2017 Approved by Ken Visocky O’Grady, M.F.A., Advisor David B. Robins, Ph.D., Interim Director, School of Visual Communication Design Amy Reynolds, Ph.D., Dean, College of Communication and Information Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................................iii LIST OF FIGURES ...............................................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................vi PREFACE ........................................................................................................................vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ......................................................................................................ix CHAPTER I: Introduction .................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER II: What is Play? ..................................................................................................2 Game Schemas ............................................................................................................. 2 Play And Gender ..........................................................................................................4 Parental Influence And Potential Limitations .................................................................8 CHAPTER III: Visual-Spatial Skills ...................................................................................... 11 Nature vs. Nurture...................................................................................................... 11 Gender And Spatial Ability ..........................................................................................14 Cognition Function ......................................................................................................16 CHAPTER IV: Bias In Education ..........................................................................................19 The Visual-Spatial Learner ..........................................................................................19 Observations In Education .......................................................................................... 20 The Disparaging Message To Female Students .............................................................. 23 CHAPTER V: Digital Gaming .............................................................................................. 28 Game Based Learning ................................................................................................. 28 Gender And Gaming ................................................................................................... 29 III Minecraft And Other Influential Games ....................................................................... 32 Predation Play And Female Gaming ............................................................................. 36 CHAPTER VI: Media Literacy ............................................................................................ 39 Online Play And It’s Role In Digital Confidence .............................................................. 39 Information Technology Fluency ..................................................................................41 CHAPTER VII: Closing The Gender Gap In STEM ................................................................. 43 Engineering And Computer Science ............................................................................. 43 Females As STEM Professionals ................................................................................... 45 CHAPTER VIII: Reimagining Game Design ......................................................................... 50 Modding For A More Inclusive Digital Community ........................................................ 50 Instructional Game Design Solutions ............................................................................52 Conclusions ............................................................................................................... 56 APPENDICES .................................................................................................................... 59 Appendix A: Parent Survey—Interview Questions ....................................................... 59 Appendix B: Parent Survey—Results ..........................................................................60 Appendix C: Structured Teacher Interview—Full Transcript ........................................ 64 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................... 74 IV List of Figures Figure Page 1. Gender Conditioning Via Children’s Movies ....................................................................6 2. Vintage Sexism: Boys Have Trucks, Girls Have Dolls ....................................................... 7 3. Vintage Sexism: Boys Can Eat, Girls Can Cook ................................................................8 4. Vintage Sexism: Boys Invent Things, Girls Use What Boys Invent ................................... 10 5. Seven Year Old Charlottes’ Strongly Worded Letter To LEGO ...........................................12 6. Highlights Magazine—Hidden Pictures ........................................................................17 7. He Says She Says: An Elementary Education ................................................................ 25 8. Inspire Her Mind—Verizon Commercial ...................................................................... 27 9. Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition ........................................................................................33 10. Girl Playing Video Game ..............................................................................................52 V List of Tables Table Page 1. Percentage Of Gamers Based On Age And Gender ...........................................................31 2. Age Range Of Minecraft Players .................................................................................. 34 3. Gender Of Minecraft Players ........................................................................................35 4. Interest In Computer Science Based On Gender ............................................................ 43 5. Share Of Women In STEM Jobs Based On Gender And Educational Attainment ............... 45 6. Total Fall Enrollment Based On Gender ........................................................................ 46 7. Occupational Distribution Of STEM Workers ................................................................ 47 8. Women’s Employment In STEM Occupations ................................................................48 9. Earnings Among Women, Via @HilaryClinton On Twitter ............................................. 49 10. College-Educated Workers With A STEM Degree By Gender ........................................... 50 11. Proportion Of Children Reporting A Given Strategy Type ...............................................55 VI Author Leigh Hughes Preface I grew up as the youngest of three daughters to a mechanical engineer. I can remember taking a keen interest in all of his drafting tools at a very young age, quite possibly before entering kindergarten. Mechanical thinking, problem solving and tinkering were a natural part of life for me growing up, and for this, I am forever grateful for the opportunity I was given to develop into a free thinker. While in elementary school, I wasn’t the most studious of students and received poor grades often. However, I believe how I spent my free time set me up for where I am today, both as a designer and researcher. I can clearly remember sitting in class and instead of doing my schoolwork, I would be illustrating and creating animated flipbooks. My favorite drawings always included baseball players—even though I hadn’t played a game of baseball in my life. If I wasn’t creating flipbooks, I was writing and illustrating my own “Choose Your Own Adventure” books—what a great concept those books were. Especially for indecisive kids such as myself. By the early 1990s, during middle school, there was a computer programming class where we learned how to code—I thought it was the greatest thing. I became obsessed with the customization and the endless possibilities it offered, and the fun that it created! One of my most vivid memories was coding a stick figure to pull a bow and arrow—which actually worked! I was astounded! Not to mention that by coding in just a few characters, I could change the color of the figure, the bow or the bullseye. It was at that moment that I became comfortable with technology and the idea that I could CREATE technology. I don’t remember feeling gender-conscious per se VII about whether my abilities would match up to my male classmates, perhaps it was because I felt confident in my understanding of digital