"My Brain Does Not Function ThatWay": Comparing Qilters' Perceptions and Motivations Towards Computing and Qilting

The systemic, mathematical, and procedural underpinnings of quilting make the domain a useful metaphor for introductory Computer Science (CS) education, although it is currently used primarily in K-16 educational settings. Considering informal CS education for adult women, we examine the potential depth of this metaphor by exploring how skilled craftspeople engage with and understand quilting-as-metaphor in the context of CS education. In this paper we report the fndings of our frst focus group with quilters to compare their perceptions and experiences related to quilting and CS. We identifed six common themes in how quilters relate the two domains: innate versus learned skills, computing skills as an aid to personal expression, avoiding computing, time investment and tangible rewards, community infuence on motivation and learning, and systematic prejudice and its efects. We elaborate upon our fndings and discuss potential applications to the design of educational technologies that integrate craft and computation.