Using Epistemic Analysis to Explore Black Girls’ Creativity as They Learn to Code

In the USA, Black women face significant underrepresentation in the computer science field. By diversifying the field with women of color, the technology industry can mitigate prevailing unconscious and conscious biases. The study presented in this article addresses a gap in creativity research by examining Black creativity, which is often overlooked by scholars. Through a 9-week afterschool program, Black girls learned to code virtual chatbots through authentic computer science activities, such as coding with Python. Through utilizing quantitative ethnography methods and epistemic network analysis, this study explores the extent in which Black girls engage in creative problem-solving as they learn to code. The epistemic networks revealed nuanced insights into the students' creative problem-solving processes as they engaged in coding. Epistemic network analysis has been demonstrated to be an innovative and culturally responsive approach to examining creativity, a concept historically measured through surveys. This study introduces innovative methods to involve Black girls in a STEM-related field where they are often marginalized while also capturing the intricate ways they engage in creative problem-solving.