Research conducted in the United Kingdom reveals that girls who play three times more likely to study STEM

Want more young women in science and technology? Give them a video game controller. According to a new study from the University of Surrey, girls who play video games are more likely to find themselves studying STEM related topics.

Researchers found that girls who play video games and identify as players are three times more likely to choose degrees in the physical sciences, technology, engineering or mathematics (PSTEM) than their peers. clbad that does not play the game. This could mean that breaking current expectations towards girls and video games would contribute significantly to reducing the gender gap in the leadership and development of PSTEM.

Eliminating Gender Gap Disparity

To qualify as a "big player," girls aged 13 to 14 were required to play more than nine hours a week. It is within these demographics that players have been much more interested in pursuing PSTEM degrees.

The researchers also examined the inverse: did the women of PSTEM identify as players? Almost all women with a PSTEM diploma have been identified as players. However, the same can not be said for men with a PSTEM diploma, regardless of their type. This has led researchers to think that boys are under much less pressure to conform to a stereotype of the game even when they are studying a PSTEM diploma.

The study conducted by the Surrey team was funded by the British Academy and published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior . Director of the PhD in Higher Education in Surrey Anesa Hosein led the study. Hosein herself identifies herself as a "geek girl" player. She thinks that there are not enough women in the PSTEM field,

"Despite the pioneering work of people like Jocelyn Bell Burnell and Daphne Jackson, the first female physics professor in Surrey, he There are still too few female PSTEM models for young women, "she said.

"However, our research shows that those who study PTSEM subjects at the Bachelor level are more likely to be players, so we need to encourage female players today to become engineering and physics and the pioneers of tomorrow.

And this will not only increase the number of women who embark on STEM, but the game world itself will evolve. Recent figures show that some Video game designers estimate that only 5% of the players are women, but this is far from accurate, according to ESA, near 45% women play video games on a regular or frequent basis

Although women may not play tactical or shooting games badociated with male players, a greater proportion of women play role-playing games , survivals and interactive drama games more q

Girls facing gambling disparities, both in terms of character limitations and programming problems, are more likely to become women who develop new video games. n the future.

How to involve more girls in the game

Hosein and his team made recommendations on how girls can become more involved in games and in PSTEM. Much of this comes from a change in education.

" School educators could also begin to include gambling in PSTEM degrees in order to increase girls' involvement in the game," said the researchers in a statement. "It's also important for girls who do not fit a geek video game stereotype to meet and see more female PSTEM alternative models during their studies."

As Hosein pointed out, educators who wish to narrow the gender gap in the field of science. can count on girls who play to be one of the first interested in continuing research on PSTEM.

"It makes sense, in the short term, that educators seeking to encourage greater PSTEM adherence be targeted at girls, as they may already have a natural interest in these topics," Hosein said. "We need to identify earlier signals to identify girls who may want to pbad PSTEM degrees."