Tech-Savvy Girls

Tech-SavvyTech-Savvy EducatingEducating GirlsGirls inin thethe NewNew ComputerComputer AgeAge aauw Educational foundation Commission on Technology, Gender, and Teacher Education TECH-SAVVYTECH-SAVVY Educating Girls in the New Computer Age By the AAUW Educational Foundation Commission on Technology, Gender, and Teacher Education This report was made possible, in part, by the generous contribution of Margaret Strauss Kramer. Special thanks to the Northern Palm Beach Branch of AAUW. Published by the American Association of University Women Educational Foundation 1111 Sixteenth Street N.W. Washington, DC 20036 202/728-7602 Fax: 202/872-1425 TDD: 202/785-7777 [email protected] www.aauw.org Copyright 2000 American Association of University Women Educational Foundation All rights reserved Printed in the United States First printing: April 2000 Cover design by Sabrina Meyers Layout by Vann Dailly Library of Congress Card Number: 00-100922 ISBN 1879922231 Cover photos: The Concord Consortium; Jeff Leaf; Judy Rolfe TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword............................................................................................................v Executive Summary............................................................................................vii INTRODUCTION FROM THE COMMISSION: Dual Visions ...................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: “WE CAN, BUT I DON’T WANT TO”: Girls’ Perspectives on the Computer Culture...................................................... 5 Chapter 2: IN THE SCHOOL: Teacher Perspectives and Classroom Dynamics ..................................................11 Chapter 3: EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE AND GAMES: Rethinking the “Girls’ Game”..............................................................................27 Chapter 4: THE COMPUTER SCIENCE CLASSROOM: Call It “Oceanography” and They Will Come ....................................................39 Chapter 5: THE SCHOOL IN CONTEXT: Home, Community, and Work............................................................................49 Appendix Biographies of Commissioners, Researchers, and Staff ................................63 Endnotes ............................................................................................................69 Selected Bibliography ........................................................................................79 Foundation Board ..............................................................................................84 AAUW Equity Library ........................................................................................85 Order Form........................................................................................................86 iii FOREWORD As the third millennium dawns, we know that com- For women and girls, making the computer culture puter technology has profoundly changed what we more reflective of their interests and values depends learn, how we learn it, and how we apply that learn- on their ability to influence the popular discourse ing in the workplace and throughout our lives. It is far about cyberculture and education. Many valid criti- less certain that all of us—or even most of us—are cisms of computer culture by teachers and female equipped to take full advantage of this technology. students serve as useful counterbalances to the ram- pant technophilia of our age. Clear evidence that girls and women lag in interest and participation prompted the formation in 1998 Goals, for example, need to be re-examined. Is simply of the AAUW Educational Foundation Commission getting more girls into computer science classes an on Technology, Gender, and Teacher Education. adequate measure of success? Not for the commissioners. Clearly, they have much broader, much represents the findings of this commission. longer-term results in mind. For them, success is a commitment to lifelong technology learning, with all How do we educate girls to become tech-savvy that that implies: an ability to adapt to rapid changes, women? The question facing the commission at its interpret critically the wealth of electronic informa- outset was an important one, and one to which this tion, experiment without fear, and assume a variety of report devotes considerable attention. But by the end roles beyond that of end user or consumer. of the commissioners’ year of collaborative study, they found themselves asking an equally compelling ques- In the classroom, commissioners want to see technol- tion: What changes are needed in the computer cul- ogy infused across the curriculum, to support better ture to improve its image, repair its deficits, and make learning for all students in a variety of subject areas. it more appealing to girls and women? This philosophy is especially crucial for equity ques- tions. Girls and other nontraditional users of com- These changes, commissioners increasingly under- puter science—who are not enamored of technology stood, may also make technology more inviting to for technology’s sake—may be far more interested in other underrepresented users—groups such as using the technology if they encounter it in the con- Hispanics, African Americans, low-income students, text of a discipline that interests them. and students who do not identify with the “male hacker/computer geek” stereotype of the proficient is a timely contribution to make the infor- technology user. This report explores how to make mation age serve all of our society. the defining technology of this century more acces- sible, appealing, and inviting to a variety of users Sharon Schuster and learners. President AAUW Educational Foundation April 2000 EXECUTIVEEXECUTIVE SUMMARYSUMMARY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In contemporary culture, the computer is no longer The commission sees it differently: In some important an isolated machine: It is a centerpiece of science, the ways, the computer culture would do well to catch up arts, media, industry, commerce, and civic life. with the girls. In other words, girls are pointing to Information technology is transforming every field, important deficits in the technology and the culture and few citizens are unaffected by it. The commission in which it is embedded that need to be integrated has chosen to use the terms “computers” and “com- into our general thinking about computers and edu- puter technology” to refer to this larger “e-culture” of cation. Indeed, girls’ critiques resonate with the con- information and simulation, and has focused its cerns of a much larger population of reticent users. inquiries, discussion, and recommendations on com- The commission believes that girls’ legitimate con- puters and education. cerns should focus our attention on changing the software, the way computer science is taught, and the The question is no longer whether computers will be goals we have for using computer technology. in the classroom, but how computers can be used to enhance teaching and learning—ideally, in ways that 2. Teachers in grades K-12 have concerns—and promote the full involvement by girls and other with good reason. Teachers, three-fourths of whom groups currently underrepresented in many com- are women, critique the quality of educational soft- puter-related endeavors. The commission’s themes ware; the “disconnect” between the worlds of the cur- and recommendations, while focused on girls in riculum, classroom needs, and school district schools, would, if addressed, improve the quality of expectations; and the dearth of adequate professional the computer culture for all students. development and timely technical assistance. Even those teachers technologically savvy enough to respond to the commission’s online survey had inci- Key Themes sive criticisms of the ways that computer technology has come into the classroom, and of the ways that they 1. Girls have reservations about the computer cul- are instructed and encouraged to use it. ture—and with good reason. In its inquiries into gender issues in computers and education, the com- Often, teachers’ concerns are met with teacher bash- mission found that girls are concerned about the pas- ing: “Teachers are not measuring up” to the new tech- sivity of their interactions with the computer as a nology, is our frequent response. Again, the “tool”; they reject the violence, redundancy, and commission sees it differently. Rather than presume tedium of computer games; and they dislike narrowly teachers’ inadequacies, the commission believes that and technically focused programming classes. Too teachers need opportunities to design instruction that often, these concerns are dismissed as symptoms of takes advantage of technology across all disciplines. anxiety or incompetence that will diminish once girls Computing ought to be infused into the curriculum “catch up” with the technology. and subject areas that teachers care about in ways that promote critical thinking and lifelong learning. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ix 3. Statistics on girls’ participation in the culture of standard of computer literacy and equity; the new computing are of increasing concern, from the point definition of computer literacy and equity described of view of education, economics, and culture. Girls in this report is a broader one. (See “What Is Fluency are not well-represented in computer laboratories and with Information Technology?” on page xi.) clubs, and have taken dramatically fewer programming and computer science courses at the high school and The new standard of “fluency” assumes an

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