ABSTRACT
This chapter is grounded in the author’s lived experiences of learning to embrace the process of struggling through computer coding challenges and finding joy in the learning that comes with making and “breaking” code. Fugere discusses the essential, frustrating (and eventually joyful) experience of working through computer coding problems. After activating the resilience that she cultivated through her experience as a neurodivergent, first-generation researcher, she began studying organizations that aimed to diversify coding education. By utilizing a case study from her research to reframe “struggling” with code as a vital component of student learning, this chapter articulates the opportunity to activate student’s inherent resilience, especially for those from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds within STEM fields. The case study explicates the joys that occur when working through challenging coding problems with new peers during mandatory remote instruction at the beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic for first-year engineering students at a Hispanic-serving institution.
