Exploring Gender Pairing in Programming Education: Impact on Programming Self-Efficacy and Collaboration Attitudes in a Developing Country's Rural Primary School

Pair programming is an effective instructional format in programming education for adolescents. Within pair programming, three potential gender combinations may arise: Boy-Boy (BB), Girl-Girl (GG), and Boy-Girl (BG). This study explores the impact of different gender pairings on the programming self-efficacy and collaborative attitudes of sixth-grade students in rural elementary schools. A total of 82 novices (34 girls and 48 boys) voluntarily formed three types of pairs—BB, GG, and BG—to engage in pair programming using Scratch. The course spanned two months, comprising a total of nine sessions. Surveys on programming self-efficacy and collaborative attitudes were administered to all students after the fifth and ninth sessions. Our research brought to light significant improvements in programming self-efficacy for BB pairs, suggesting that male students learning programming with same-gender partners experienced noteworthy enhancements in their perceived programming abilities. Conversely, students in GG and BG pairs did not display significant changes in their programming self-efficacy. Additionally, all students demonstrated optimal collaborative attitudes when engaged in pair programming with same-gender partners. This study contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of programming self-efficacy and collaborative attitudes within the framework of pair learning. The findings hold the potential to offer valuable insights for educators and curriculum designers aiming to establish inclusive and effective learning environments in rural elementary programming education.