Contribution: This article applies science capital research to computing education in order to understand why students engage with a programme involving computing, and what they aspire to get out of their education. Background: Capital is a concept which has been used in educational research to study inequality, aspiration and achievement. Previous work has looked at capital in science education, but misses out on discipline-specific capital. This article applies science capital research to the field of computing education, providing insight into students’ views and dispositions of computing, their confidence and knowledge, and other factors which are important for understanding student engagement with the subject. Research Questions: How can science capital research be adapted to computing education? Further to this, what insights can be generated from such a methodology? Methodology: Inspired by the concept of science capital, a survey has been developed and tested among 29 bioinformatics students with a biology background. These students were selected since they recently switched to a programme involving computing, allowing them to reflect on their motivation, aspirations, and outcome expectations. Informed by the initial results, a follow-up interview was designed, and ten students participated. Findings: Science capital research proves useful for studying factors underlying participation in computing. Students in this study are driven by career opportunities, as well as positive beliefs and values when it comes to computing, while perceiving barriers such as low levels of computing confidence, and a gap between their skills and future careers. In addition, gender differences among survey results were observed $(p\,\,=$ 0.002).

中文翻译：

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从科学到计算：生物信息学学生的资本研究

贡献：本文将科学资本研究应用于计算机教育，以了解学生为何参与涉及计算机的项目，以及他们渴望从教育中获得什么。背景：资本是一个在教育研究中用于研究不平等、愿望和成就的概念。以前的工作着眼于科学教育中的资本，但忽略了特定学科的资本。本文将科学资本研究应用于计算机教育领域，深入了解学生对计算机的看法和倾向、他们的信心和知识，以及对于理解学生对该学科的参与度很重要的其他因素。研究问题：科学资本研究如何适应计算机教育？除此之外，从这种方法中可以产生什么见解？方法：受科学资本概念的启发，我们在 29 名具有生物学背景的生物信息学学生中进行了一项调查并进行了测试。这些学生被选中是因为他们最近转向了一个涉及计算机的项目，使他们能够反思自己的动机、愿望和结果期望。根据初步结果，设计了后续访谈，有十名学生参与。研究结果：科学资本研究证明对于研究参与计算的潜在因素很有用。这项研究中的学生受到就业机会以及计算机方面积极信念和价值观的驱动，同时也意识到了计算信心水平低以及他们的技能与未来职业之间的差距等障碍。此外，还观察到调查结果存在性别差异 $(p\,\,=$0.002）。