There is a consensus in computer science (CS) education that student numbers are not growing; furthermore, the number of female students is still very low. This situation attracts considerable research, and this article supports similarly themed research where organized extracurricular activities are provided to young adults as an introduction to the world of computer programming.

The authors of this article conducted a game programming outreach intervention to increase interest in computational thinking, logic, and problem solving. The article includes a detailed outline of the gender imbalance, followed by a theoretical discourse on the background of this topic. The actual study was open to young adults, 12 to 18 years old, who participated in a workshop during the summer holidays. From 2009 to 2017, there were 741 participants, which indicates the study had a steady stream of interested students. It is concerning that of the 94 students contacted for a follow-up interview, only 20 responded. However, the discussion and conclusion from the study extends the findings from similar studies. There are benefits to educational organizations conducting regular outreach programs, for example, increased interest in CS courses and improvements to student enrollment.

Finally, the authors suggest that outreach programs utilize a range of themes to broaden the appeal of these activities to include more female students.

As a CS lecturer, I enjoyed this article and found the results very interesting. I would highly recommend it to educators in the CS field.