Girls and boys start out at comparable levels of interest and abilities in math, science and technology during lower elementary grades... Research has shown that perceptions begin to slowly change in upper elementary grades when girls tend to view the computer as a tool to complete a task, while boys begin playing games and establishing a "friendship" with their computers.
(Research has shown that girls prefer problem-solving and strategy computer games over shoot-to-kill scenarios.)
Perhaps if girls in elementary school experience technology as fun and enriching they will make the choice in high school to enroll in advanced math and science courses. In this way, opportunities will remain open to them that previously would be closed. Teaching girls the benefits of being tech-savvy requires the collaboration of parents, teachers, and designers.
Monday, July 04, 2005
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8 comments:
have you started social work? dont misunderstand, my curiosity seeks the answer not my craving to reunite with old friends...
i say this because of techno phobia that assails most women i know...it's all because of their conditioning, no?
perhaps to a great extent...but its changing very fast...nowadays you see women engineers, pilots, gamers, formula drivers, surgeons, etc...i reckon time has come to call them technocrats rather than technophobs. no? yes!
all of the above you have mentioned do not write code... that's what i am trying to say. the ones who do, are the wall flowers, the ones who people tend to overlook since they are non descript.
that too is changing...just see the number of women in software programming - especially from down south - who are flocking to jobs in the US, Europe and even south east asian countries...
i live in a city where every second woman is a software programmer, so i am not disputing that. its just that i work in the elearning industry that designs courses for hard core developers... and i have observed that women cannot teach techie courses as well as men, coz men understand what they are teaching where techie stuff goes,women on the other hand have mugged it all up, and are unable to answer the whys and hows. they only understand the "whats..." which is why they make for poor teachers when it comes to designing courses for techies.
ooohh! finally got it!
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