Gender and Socioeconomic Influences on Academic Performance in Pbl Computing Education

Contribution: This study explores the impact of Project-Based Learning (PBL) on academic performance within a gender- and socioeconomically diverse population of undergraduate students in computing education. The research examines whether gender identity and socioeconomic background influence learning outcomes in PBL environments. Background: Research demonstrates PBL's effectiveness in enhancing technical and soft skills, such as collaboration and critical thinking. Inclusive practices addressing gender and socioeconomic disparities are essential for equitable education. This study advances prior research to investigate PBL's inclusivity in these contexts. Intended Outcomes: The study assesses whether gender identity and socioeconomic status influence academic performance in PBLbased computing courses to determine if PBL provides equitable outcomes across diverse demographic groups. Intended Outcomes: The study evaluates whether gender identity and socioeconomic background significantly affect academic performance in PBLbased computing courses, aiming to determine whether PBL ensures equitable outcomes for all students. Application Design: A total of 189 students from four computing programs participated anonymously, self-reporting their gender identity, socioeconomic status, and academic performance. Grades were reported in intervals to ensure confidentiality, and box plots were used to illustrate performance distributions. Unpaired t-tests were used to analyze potential statistical differences across groups. Findings: The overall distribution of self-reported grades closely matched the institution's official records, indicating sincerity in the responses. The <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$t$</tex>-test analysis revealed no statistically significant differences in academic performance between students based on gender identity or socioeconomic status, indicating that PBL provides an environment where students from diverse backgrounds can achieve similar academic results. This finding aligns with previous studies on PBL's effectiveness in supporting both technical and soft skills development. The results suggest that PBL can promote equity in computing education, offering similar opportunities for success regardless of gender or socioeconomic background. In countries where access to higher education is often unequal, these findings highlight the potential of PBL to reduce disparities in academic performance.