GirlTECH

on Getting Girls Interested in Computers

2. Girls need role models; they need to see women using computers competently and confidently. Check out computing magazines - almost all of the photographs are of men. On high school campuses, being a computer geek raises a male student's coolness factor; it doesn't have the same effect for girls. To offset this, when you invite speakers to classes or clubs, make sure you include women. Share information about women who are leaders in the field.

3. Make a conscious effort to encourage girls. Make them lab assistants. In class, call on girls more often, even if they don't volunteer. Ask them difficult questions that require higher order thinking. Try to find time for girls to be on machines when the boys are not around. (Then they won't be tempted to ask the gurus for help.) Choose a girl to help set up new hardware or software. Start a club designed to appeal to girls. Make sure they take the highest level of computing offered. Personally invite them to go to a computing contest. Don't let anyone deter them.

4. Inform them of what computer science as a career is really like. Girls may perceive it as a job spent all day in a cubicle with nothing but a machine.

5. When they ask, don't tell. Girls tend to ask for assistance when something won't work. Boys tend to try to figure it out. Encourage them to be daring with the machine. It's a real confidence booster when they succeed. Only step in if you really need to, and then try just a hint or help them to read the manual.

6. For young girls, purchase games that appeal to them. The more time a young child can spend on a computer, the more confident she will become with the machine.

7. In class, collaborate more; compete less. (I need to add a disclaimer here because I am so competitive myself.) In general, girls respond better to collaborative projects rather than competitive. Encourage collaborations, but be alert to boys dominating the group.

8. Girls like to see what computers can do for them. They see computers more as a tool and less as a toy. (Maybe that's a good thing, huh?) Let them type their papers on the computers, show them how to write web pages, or teach them to make a graph using a spreadsheet.

9. Put the home computer in a centralized location and give girls equal access with their brothers. Is it any wonder that girls aren't using the computer at home if it's in the boy's room?

10. Find out what percentage of the students in the highest level of computer science taught at your school (Computer Science II or AP Computer Science) is girls. If it's not at least 50%, make the school aware of the problem. Talk to counselors, parents, and other teachers to enlist their help in encouraging the girls in your school into the highest levels of computer science.