Young learners are increasingly introduced to programming, and one of the
main challenges for educators is to achieve learning success while also
creating enthusiasm. As it is particularly difficult to achieve this enthusiasm
initially in young females, prior work has identified gender-specific
differences in the programming behavior of young learners. Since pair
programming, which turns programming into a more sociable activity, has been
proposed as an approach to support programming education, in this paper we aim
to investigate whether similar gender-specific characteristics can also be
observed during pair programming. Therefore, we designed a gender-neutral
introductory SCRATCH programming course tailored for integrating pair
programming principles, and conducted it with a total of 139 students aged
between 8 and 14 years. To identify gender-dependent differences and
similarities, we measure the attitude towards programming and the course
setting, observe the behavior of the students while programming, and analyze
the code of the programs for different gender-combinations. Overall, our study
demonstrates that pair programming is well suited for young learners and
results in a positive attitude. While the resulting programs are similar in
quality and complexity independent of gender, differences are evident when it
comes to the compliance to pair programming roles, the exploration of code, and
the creative customization of programs. These findings contribute to an
in-depth understanding of social and technical gender specifics of pair
programming, and provide educators with resources and guidance for implementing
gender-sensitive pair programming in the classroom
