Girl Geeks in High School – Technical Experiences of Future Inventors
From Anita Borg Institute Wiki
Girl Geeks in High School - Technical Experiences of Future Inventors
Presenters:
Katy Dickinson, Sun Microsystems
Jessica Dickinson Goodman, Carnegie Mellon University
Alice Adelman, Castilleja School
Melissa Wong, Castilleja School
Jennifer Alice Simonovich, Menlo School
- NOTE while I have tried to transcribe the session for you, often times the speed and emotion the girls spoke with was much too quick for me to keep up with. These are not directly the words from their mouth, I have tried my best to capture the spirit in which they were said and most of their phrasing. *********
Questions: what teaching tools particularily benefited you
Jennifer:Hands on concepts were always most helpful in teaching just about everything. In particular on math and computers classes. I know my first cs course, outside of the basic class they make all highschool freshmen take, used Alice the robot. ... I found doing things hands on was highly effective and encouraged me to learn more about comp sci
Jessica: I definitely agree with Jessica. Actually have a computer program and being able to effect the program as you're going has definitely helped me learn the concepts
Alice: I once again agree handson experience is very important. I think that in math and sciences what's important is to encourage people ot attack problems in many different ways. It isnt' limited to math and science but those topics definitely lend themselves to this approach.
Melisa: Can I agree? You guys all answered my question
Question: Does having your own laptop computer make a difference and How?
Melisa: I got a new laptop because my parents decided my old computer was getting too slow. I don't bring it to school though because my computer has tons of computers so I think this accessibility makes having a laptop not super necessary.
Alice: I agree with Melissa that it's not essential but that it's extremely convenient. Having a school with huge accessibility helps a lot and I don't always bring my laptop but on the days I do bring it, it's definitely an easier day. I take more notes and being able to just pull it out of my bag and work.
Jennifer: as helpful as it would be to bring a computer every day, my school network has made it very difficult to use a laptop at school. There are days I wish I had been doing my CS code or my chem lab on my own computer but it's just not possible. Fortunately there are many many computers at my school that make it very easy to access that gives us almost unlimited access to these computers. If need be, teachers will offer their own laptops for use in class. I find that laptops are not as necessary.
Jessica; I Love my laptop, her name is Amelia. I think I would be much less productive without my laptop. It means to me I can go to class and have what I need. I don't have to print things out ahead of time. I can work on the fly I can send someone an email right after I talk to them .It gives me a lot of flexibility .It gives me one central place where all my email and homework and files are. It is particular helpful when doing cross disciplinary work.
Question: Are laptops distracting in class? Do you find the laptop distracts do, do you feel tempted to communicate with the other students instead of doing your homework in the classroom.
Jennifer: I am currently wishing I had all my comp sci homework on my laptop because I have homework to be doing.
Alice: I can see how there is reason to be concerned, I do see the girl in front of me in biology playing solitaire on their computers. I think the teachers mentality in my school is that they leave their students on their own. Students should have their own discipline and they shoudl take their own notes. I mean, I learned that I shouldn't play solitaire in class because I need to take notes. I think teachers let us learn that on our own. We do have classes in the computer lab and the teacher will say "eyes up here. I don't want people playing on the computesr"
Melisa: I think it's truly up to whether your students are interested in what is going on in class.
Jessica: I know in my college classes and I'm bored if you dont' have a laptop you're doodling, if you do, you're messing around on the laptop. if I have my computer I've definitely found it really depends on the form of the presentation. If the class is interesting and people are talking about things I don't know, I will try and look it up so I can follow the discussion
Question: does it make a difference, or how does it make a difference if your math/science teachers are female?
Jennifer: I know I had some phenomenal math and science teachers in junior high and they encouraged me to stay in math and sciences when I was thinking of going into english and history and I don't know if they did that because I'm good at it or because I'm female.
Alice: I know when I have a female science teacher she's encouraging me to follow up science for a career where as a male science teacher would encourage me to look up science for fun. On the first day of class I know the female professor asks what kind of careers we could see ourselves doing with this science where as the male teachers encourage us to join science clubs after school.
Melisa: I know that students tend to give female teachers a harder time than male teachers.. but if we like you I don't think it generally makes a difference.
Jessica: I don't know if it matters. I think I'm much more attached to the personality of my teachers than their gender. My one male teachers I had in math was my advisor and he was really pushing that if you were interested you keep going. He was always supportive and never like "oh well you're not smart enough to finish". I know that when I have mentors, gender definitely mattered. I know my female mentor telling me about all these things definitely made me feel like I could go in and do these things too
jennifer: I have to agree with Jessie on that point. Having female mentors is really important. It was really helpful knowing what they had to go through to get where they are and what problems they faced and how to get through them.
Question: Is there an advantage to having a tablet pc as opposed to a laptop in the classroom?
Jessica: my brother has a tablet, tha's as close as I've gotten to it.. I dont' think I've seen anyone in my high school with a tablet.
Jennifer: I don't think I've seen anyone in my high school with a tablet. though I've wished my keyboard was much more interactive so I could draw things like stack diagrams as I go but I don't think the technology is there so that it would be useful
Alice: We have smart boards in my math class and it's really good because we go at such a fast pace. I think it helps
Both Jessica/Jennifer: Smartboards in my school weren't used at all. Most teachers don't know how to use them.
Question: Do you see yourself as a user or a creator of technology? How do you think your peers see themselves?
Melisa: I use it to create and I feel like most students at school are scared of technology. I know our computer system at school didn't work for a while.
Alice: I'm interested in things like web design and I like to mess around with things and create new kind of designs and layouts and I work with my parents for making webpages for their compay so it's kind of fun. I get my own little taste of the professional life. I think my friends at school are more users than creators. They're definitely more tech savey.. I think this generation is more tech savey with the basics. I know when I see these big tech people know all these fancy languages but they cant type fast or really use word. they can't do the basics. I think one thing this generation is good at use basic things like using webpages and solve problems.
Jennifer: most people at my school are definite users of technology and only see computers as a way of accessing facebook or something. My school isn't very math and science so you have to search for it if you want to fid it at all. Many people at my school see my computer as a tool and not anything they can use to create anything. I basically took a break from computers and have only just stated using them for more advanced purpose more recently. I'm not quite at the stage where I can create anything but I'd definitely like to.
Jessica: I see myself as a creator.. a budding creator and I think ti's definitely growing up with my family. Futzing with technology if something doesn't work whta do you do to fix it? I definitely use technology a lot and if it doesn't work I try to fix it. The user vs creator is used for women vs men?
Question Asker: no it's fallen out of research and
Jessica: I know that the tech savvy girls in my school were really only willing to mess around with the software on their computers where as the only people ripping apart their computers were the guys. If I were to do a social analysis on a sample of 5 i think it's that guys are raised around tools and I think the girls who can't take apart their laptops are at just as much a disadvantage as if they couldn't open eclipse and tinker
Question: are you concerned about online safety? What's the perception that boys have the view of being technical?
Jennifer; So to answer the first question, both my parents are network security experts so they have told me my whole life to be careful with their passwords and with what we say online but I don't think most of my peers know this. Girls in my schools have gotten in trouble for things they have said on face book. Teachers at my school are studying
Alice: there are these two websites myspace and face book and I remember freshmen year when there was this huge craze about myspace and ther was this big crackdown on my school about "dont go on facebook" because people were putting up pictures and information and there was concern because everyone coudl get at these things. THey brought in our parents and a police officer came and gave a talk and it was a pretty big deal and then a few years later the school turned to facebook and obviously it's still an internet site that people can get into but I think ti's much more safer than myspace. ... I know my school is going on a trip to china and so teachers are using facebook to form groups and discuss.
Melisa; I think overall adults underestimate us and yeah we know there are really disturbed people out there and I'm not going to give my telephone number in any private or public room or anything. So don't worry.
Jessica: The only way to be safe online is the only way you're safe if you go down the dark.. you apply your BS-meter. You say "do i feel okay with this".. I dont' go to myspace, it has a weird feeling to me and I use facebook because it feels cleaner. You learn this feeling with experience. I get nervous when people restrict access because people who've never learned what not to do go to a public library without filters and then they get hosed. I mean .. there are relatively safe communities online where you can be as safe as you are here. ON the second question I don't hang out with guys who don't think it's okay that I'm a girl geek.
Question: what do boys think of you being technical and what do girls think of you being geeky
Jennifer; Out of my school friends i'm basically the only one interested in math or science. It's kind of sad. There was only one other girl in my physics class in sophmore year. My cs class is mostly males. The only hostility I've seen is overt. guys will just ignore you until you prove until you prove you fit in and you'er just as smart as them and then they'll let you in. Yes it can be hard when you walk in and get this wave of testosterone.
Alice: I know when I tell my friends I'm into engineering they say "why why do you want to do that" and I don't know what to say.. ti's like "why do you want to do history" it's like there's two different worlds and it doesn't have to be that way. they just don't understand why you'd want to do that. I don't get a lot of interaction with boys being at an all girls school but in outside school activities There's two extremes in group projects; boys take over the group if they don't think you're smart enough or the boys think you're smart enough so you should do all the work. It's never really a fair share.
Melisa: .... In our robotics groups it's definitely cooler to be the PR person on the robotics team than the programmer.
Alice: There's this idea if you are going into math and science you're a genius .. who doesn't really have a social life staying at home doing computer programming .I don't know if that's a sense of admiration or if they look down on us for that but there is that stereotype.
Jennifer: I know that people my age won't give me a hard time but I know like a family friend will give me a hard time. When I say I'm interested in engineering they're like .. ."why". People my own age are fine with it and maybe it's because I have more exposure to them. People older than me even if they know I like math and science will assume it's not something I want to go into.
Question: can you recommend ways to interest high school girls at our college open house?
Jessica: Give them robots. Something hands on. let them see code and play with code. Once you see that it's just words.. words in java.. but just words. and I know you can't bring the Grace hopper conference to them but if you can show them pictures and see all these girls that says more than saying "you need to go into cs.. the pipeline is slowing down.."
jennifer; Make sure they know what computing science is. Even though there is cs in schools most don't know what it is. I know my friend who was mostly computer illiterate joined my cs class with me just because I was telling her what it is and she was getting excited by what she could do with it.