Gaming is helping to get more girls into STEM subjects, (science, technology, engineering and maths) and often helping them outpace boys in their age group, according to a Glasgow academic.
Dr Rashmi Mantri, a computer scientist and founder of online learning platform the British Youth International College (BYITC), says a growing number of girls are joining the College’s games-based courses in STEM subjects.
More girls are also acing tests and winning BYITC awards for excellence. These include 11 year old Namra Sayyed, from East Renfrewshire, who has won a STEM award at the BYITC Inspire Awards.
These awards celebrate the achievements of children from across the UK and have been presented over the past two years at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh and UK Parliament in Westminster.
Dr Mantri said: “As we prepare to mark International Women’s Day, let’s also celebrate the huge numbers of girls immersing themselves worldwide in STEM subjects. At BYITC we are proud to play our part in this global movement.
“These young women and girls are the world’s next generation of brilliant minds, and it’s a joy, increasingly, to see them flourish and excel in STEM subjects.
“In the UK, women now make up nearly 50 per cent of enrolments in STEM courses. This surge is particularly strong in technology and IT, as women break longstanding barriers and make meaningful contributions.”
Girls represented almost half of all winners (48% – 13 of 27 winners) in the 2024 BYITC Inspire Awards, Dr Mantri said. This is up from 47% in 2023.
Equally, since it was founded ten years ago, BYITC has seen the number of girls enrolled in its STEM-related courses soar by over 40 per cent.
Namra Sayyed was just nine years old when she won the Best Innovator category in the 2023 BYITC Inspire Awards. She is a coding enthusiast who has honed her skills at school through ‘coding pathway’ programmes that introduce young people to skills including coding, game building and robotics. Namra is also a staunch believer in gender equality.
She said: “I like doing this because it’s fun and you can do whatever you want when it comes to coding. In future, I would like to become a software engineer and make new inventions. I would also like to inspire girls to come coding, and together we can close the gender gap.”
Namra’s parents said: “Winning the STEM Award last year highlights the positive impact of interactive learning. Namra’s passion for coding and her vision to inspire other girls to pursue STEM careers is a testament to the changing landscape of STEM education. Since then she taken part in game design and development with a major bank, and also worked with St Ninian’s High School to formulate cyber response plans.”
Dr Mantri founded BYITC after using an abacus to teach her son, Dhruv, basic arithmetic. The college went on to develop what it describes as the world’s first games-based abacus maths application. Its brightly coloured graphics and characters are inspired by digital games and are designed to engage children in the learning process.
BYITC has since launched more than 20 games-based courses designed to help make maths fun. These include Penguin Party Maths – a fun game for building maths skill; Number Nitro – to help children learn addition and subtraction through play – and Fish Frenzy Maths – a fun and effective way to practice arithmetic times tables.
A growing body of research suggests that girls who play computer games are more likely to follow careers in STEM subjects. A study this year in the ScienceDirect journal, Entertainment Computing, links computer gaming to women being more likely to enrol in STEM degrees – and also get better grades.
Other studies include research from University of Surrey in 2018 showing that girls who are avid gamers are three times more likely to study physical science, technology, engineering and maths (PSTEM) degrees at university, compared to non-gamers.
