Exploring societal factors affecting the experience and engagement of first year female computer science undergraduates

<p class="R-AbstractKeywords"><span lang="EN-GB">The purpose of our study was to identify reasons for high dropout of students enrolled in the first year of the computer science study program to make it possible to determine students, who are potentially in risk. Several factors that could affect attrition, as it was originally assumed, were studied: high school grades (admission score), compensative course in high school mathematics, intermediate grades for core courses, prior knowledge of programming. However, the results of our study indicate that none of the studied factors is determinant to identify those students, who are going to abandon their studies, with great precision. The majority of the studied students drop out in the 1st semester of the 1st year, and the dropout consists mostly of those, who do not really begin studies. Therefore, one of the main conclusions is such that the planned activities of informing about the contents of the program should be carried out, and the perspective students should be offered a possibility to evaluate their potential to study computer science before choosing a study program. </span></p>

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Resilience and Effective Learning in First-Year Undergraduate Computer Science

Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education ◽

10.1145/3341525.3387372 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Tom Prickett ◽

Julie Walters ◽

Longzhi Yang ◽

Morgan Harvey ◽

Tom Crick

Keyword(s):

Computer Science ◽

First Year ◽

Effective Learning

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Age- and sex-related morphological and physiological differences influence escape capacity in House Sparrows (Passer domesticus)

Canadian Journal of Zoology ◽

10.1139/z10-067 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 88 (10) ◽

pp. 1021-1031 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

L. De Neve ◽

J. D. Ibañez-Alamo ◽

M. Soler

Keyword(s):

Escape Response ◽

Passer Domesticus ◽

First Year ◽

Cell Mediated Immunity ◽

Animal Performance ◽

House Sparrows ◽

Factors Affecting ◽

Age Related ◽

Animal Populations ◽

Age And Sex

Sexual dimorphism and age-related differences are sources that contribute to morphologic and physiologic variation within animal populations. Measurement of animal performance may indicate whether this variation is functionally relevant. Our study aimed to experimentally test this statement in a captive population of House Sparrows ( Passer domesticus (L., 1758)) by examining age- and sex-related differences in escape response and its relationship to several morphological (tarsus, wing, tail lengths, and body mass) and physiological traits (cell-mediated immunity, natural antibodies, complement activity, hematocrit, and stress response). Escape response from a predator is considered a good variable to measure animal performance, because natural selection clearly favours individuals that avoid predators successfully. Our experimental design also aimed to standardize possible confounding factors affecting escape behaviour under natural conditions. We exposed sparrows to short episodes of high predation risk by simulating the attack of a predator and assumed that the capture order of individuals was related to their escape capacity. The optimal strategy was the immediate escape response for all individuals. We found that first-year males were the best escapers. In support of the hypothesis, juvenile males gathered a better optimum of several morphological and physiological characters that related to capture order.

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