THE GIRLS HAVE IT!

Today! girls can become anything they want--engineers, computer programmers, astronauts. But do they know this?

Once upon a time Tanya, a fourth grader at an inner-city school in Atlanta, was a budding scientist, computer expert, and math wizard.

As a kindergartner, Tanya was just as enthusiastic about computers and other gadgets as were the boys in her class. When her first-grade class put on the play Peter Pan, it was Tanya's idea to design colorful, computer-generated invitations. In third grade, when her class studied ecosystems, Tanya and her friends published reports of their scientific experiments in an on-line classroom newspaper.

But then something happened. In fourth grade Tanya's interest in science and computers plummeted. She stopped going to the after-school Computer Club. She told her mother she thought science was for geeks and her teacher that she felt uninterested in the computer games the boys in her classroom played--games that usually featured male action heroes, baffles, and destruction.

Tanya also began to lose interest in math. Boys often took the floor in class, while Tanya hung back and remained silent. Once an eager student who enjoyed untangling complex problems, Tanya began to use words like "dumb" to describe herself to teachers.

Although Tanya still used technology as a tool to find information or write reports, she no longer showed a desire to become skilled in the use of computer graphics, digital cameras, or programming languages. That is, she did not aspire to become a "power user"--someone who has developed an intuitive sense of how to use computers and who can quickly, and independently, learn new programs, according to Cornelia Brunner, researcher at the Center for Children and Technology at the Education Development Center in New York City.

Girls like Tanya can be found in schools across America. Research shows that while many boys stay on track in math, science, and technology, girls have often been allowed to tune out on these subjects without any objections from their parents or teachers. How can we reverse this trend in an increasingly high-tech world?

A "BOYS ONLY" CLUBHOUSE?

My personal interest in helping girls reach their potential grew out of my work as a mentor with Boston's Computer Clubhouse, a joint venture of the Computer Museum and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.). The clubhouse is designed to give inner-city children access to computers. I was alarmed to discover that of the 1,000-plus children who participated during the first two years, only seven percent were girls, and they showed a reluctance to explore unfamiliar software the way the boys did.

The relatively low involvement of girls in the Computer Clubhouse is consistent with research. Education experts Carol Nelson and J. Allen Watson suggest that while girls and boys in the early grades are equally enthusiastic about technology; by third or fourth grade they veer off in different directions. More boys play computer games and surf the Internet than girls.

When it comes to computer games, many education experts claim that girls often prefer programs that feature real-world problem solving, interesting characters, and a sense of purpose. But because few games are designed with girls' preferences in mind, they spend less time than boys learning to navigate computer-based worlds.

While the girls are tuning out technology, boys are developing sophisticated ideas about how they can use computers for their own purposes.

To help make the clubhouse a more equitable, girl-friendly place, several other female graduate students from Harvard and I established All Girls' Monday. These afternoon sessions gave girls a chance to hone their computer skills in a nurturing, all-female environment. As mentors, our first goal was to help them gain the "smarts" they needed to become technologically fluent. Ultimately, we wanted these girls to become confident enough to hold their own in a coed environment.

Our plan worked. While we weren't able to achieve a fifty-fifty boy-girl balance, female participation during the rest of the week shot up from 7 percent to 35 percent in the first year. And the girls learned how to do the things they wanted to do with technology. As their excitement grew, they took on projects such as designing fashions and programming an electronic model of a city--work that reflected who they were and what they might become. (See their projects at www.computerclubhouse.org).

My experience represents just one small example of the way we as teachers can advocate for girls. Here are suggestions for working with the resources you have to help girls stay hooked on math, science, and technology.

MENTOR GIRLS EARLY

Teacher and parent mentors can have a profound impact on girls' self-image and their career decisions. Alexis Dieter, an M.I.T. undergraduate, recalls, "My seventh-grade science teacher definitely inspired, mentored, and encouraged me. He was very supportive, and he sparked my interest in science. My sixth-grade math teacher also helped me. He ran an advanced [placement] program and helped me realize my talent in math and science."

Today's girls can receive mentoring from people beyond their schools' boundaries. Why not set up an electronic mentorship program in your school by connecting girls online with local businesswomen or scientists--anyone who relies heavily on math, science, and/or technology in her or his work? An introductory social event can be a great launching point for such a partnership.

CHALLENGE GENDER STEREDTRPES

Invite female members of your community to your classroom to discuss their careers. Try contacting the local chapter of the American Association of University Women to find women whose work involves advanced technology or complex problem solving.

Share articles about highly accomplished women, such as teacher-astronaut Barbara Morgan, who is now waiting to be assigned to a shuttle mission. One exciting aspect of her training, for example, involved learning about space walks and how to help assemble the international space station. Says Morgan, "Science is everybody's thing."

Madeleine Albright, the first female U.S. secretary of state, is another role model who has challenged stereotypes about careers for women. Clip newspaper and magazine articles that describe Albright travels throughout the world to help negotiate peace treaties.

DEMAND GENER-FAIR MATERIALS

Do the materials you use in your school celebrate the accomplishments of women? Are girls and women portrayed in nonstereotypical ways in your social studies and science books? According to a 1999 Equity Resource Center Report, in 1,000 pages of U.S. history texts less than three percent of content focuses on women. Science textbooks are also problematic, with two thirds to three fourths of the illustrations depicting males.

Suppose you are well aware of the limitations of the curricular materials in your school, but you're stuck with them for the time being. How can you advocate obtaining gender-fair teaching materials in the future?

* Express your concerns to your colleagues.

* Try to enlist the curriculum coordinator and technology specialist to help you target funds to supplement, and eventually replace, your school's books and media.

* Write to textbook publishers and urge them to stop promoting stereotypes and to picture women in 50 percent of a book or an educational program.

* Find nontraditional material to supplement traditional curricular material. (See Resources on page 34.) Have kids use the Web to find information about women who are technology, science, or math pioneers.

OFFER MULTIPLE WAYS TO RESPOND

Do you always use a whole-class discussion format during your science class? Many students, including girls, are more comfortable speaking up in small-group settings or when working in pairs. As professors Myra and David Sadker remind us in Failing at Fairness: How Our Schools Cheat Girls (Touchstone, 1995), "education is not a spectator sport." Be sure to call on boys and girls in equal measure. Encourage girls as well as boys to be problem solvers. Karma Paoletti, a third-grade teacher at the Agassiz School, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, makes a conscious effort to call on a girl, then a boy. She pairs boys and girls together to discuss academic subjects. Paoletti explains, "Classrooms are microcosms of the rest of the world. It's part of my job to create a structure in which boys and girls have continuous success interacting with one another. I think of this as a social curriculum. It's as important to me as the academic curriculum."

Above all, we need to convey to our students that we hold equal expectations for boys and girls. Assign tasks that challenge traditional stereotypes--for example, have a girl lead a math activity while a boy takes notes.

ENLIST PARENTS AS PARTNERS

We know that parental support can have an enormous impact on children's academic success and career choices. To learn more about parent influence, I consulted some high-achieving M.I.T. female undergraduates. A recurring theme among them is reflected in 18-year-old Michelle Peters's remarks: "My father was by far the greatest influence in my academic life, especially in math. When I was young we would work together on challenging, elementary-level word problems. In junior high he encouraged me to study ahead over the summers. He made every effort to find ways I could pursue activities I enjoyed. Math was one of them. Being female was never an issue for me in my family. My father would play sports with me or teach me algebra. If I was interested, my parents supported me; they never expected me to conform to any stereotype."

In creating partnerships with parents and caregivers, we can help increase their awareness of the gender gap.

* Do they, for example, talk to their daughters about their career aspirations? If so, do they help the girls envision themselves in work situations that require mastery of math, science, and/or technology?

* Do they encourage their daughters to pursue a wide range of interests, technical or otherwise, and take these interests seriously? Sports and other activities that foster leadership skills, responsibility, and team building can be especially valuable to girls' overall development.

* Do we remind parents that even if they once struggled with mathematics and science, they should be careful not to give their daughters the impression that these subjects will be difficult for them too?

TALK THE TALK

We can take the lead in incorporating "tech talk" into our classroom discussions. Weave terms such as browser, chat room, cyberspace, netiquette, virtual reality, and streaming media into the fabric of everyday life. Make sure that the girls in our classrooms participate fully and so have opportunities to use the new jargon.

What if you feel shaky about your own knowledge of the new terms that infiltrate our language at lightning speed? Don't despair. These handy on-line resources can help you and your students stay on top of high-tech language: CMP's TechEncyclopedia (found at www.techweb.com/encyclopedia) and Ugeek's Technical Glossary ( found at www.ugeek.com/glossary).

READY FOR THE FUTURE

Math, science, and technology are not just the province of rocket scientists and devoid of relevance to the real world. They are stepping stones to complex problem solving and insights about the way the world works. And the prevalence of technology in the workplace is increasing. The National Science Foundation estimates that in 2010 as many as one fourth of all jobs will be technologically oriented. Thus, people with advanced skills, such as computer engineers and programmers, can expect greater opportunities and higher salaries than people with more limited skills. Any student who opts out of science, math, and technology risks being relegated to the lower ranks of the work world.

By showing girls how to develop their talents in mathematics, science, and technology now, we can help keep society's promise of a fair and equitable education for all children. "Expect the best from a girl. That's what you'll get," states literature from the Women College Coalition at Mount Holyoke. It's up to all of us to show girls that they are capable individuals who can learn to teach in space--or help design the spacecraft. The opportunities for their growth and fulfillment in the future depend on it.

Julie M Wood, Ed.D., is the director of the Literacy Laboratory at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is also the director of training for the America Reads Program at M.I.T.

RESOURCES HELPING GIRLS SUCCEED

Does Jane Compute? Preserving Our Daughters' Place in the Cyber Revolution, by Roberta Furger (Warner Books, 1998). A persuasive look at the tech gap between boys and girls.

Coming into Her Own, edited by Sara Davis, Mary Crawford, and Jadwiga Sebrechts (Jossey-Bass, 1999). Offers innovative strategies for improving the educational experience of girls and women.

How Schools Can Stop Shortchanging Girls (and Boys): Gender-Equity Strategies, by Kathryn Wheeler (Wellesley College Center for Research on Women, 1993). Advice for parents and educators.