Girls Creating Games Program: Strategies for Engaging Middle-School Girls in Information Technology, The

There is a clear ne to increase girls' leadership in technology. The number of female undergraduates in computer science declined from 37 percent in 1984 to 27 percent in 1997' Females make up sole 20 percent of high institute students who take the advanced placement experiment in computer science.2 Hispanic females make up the smallest percentage of any cluster comprising only ?? percent of all computer science AP ordeal takers in i999.3 These statistics display the need for interventions that can increase the interest and ability of female pupils to persist in computer science classes, and ultimately in computer technology-related careers.

In this paper, we describe Girls Creating Games (GCG) an after-school and summer program for sixth- end eighth-grade girls designed to address the barriers to girls' active participation in information technology (IT). As others have done in co settings,4 we set girls in the role of designer through teaching them to program an interactive computer game.

GENDER GAMES, AND TECHNOLOGY

The program focuses upon computer game development for sum of two units reasons. First, computer games are considered a gateway to more active use of technology. Not playing games disposes girls to relatively les active parts with the computer and delays improvement of spatial and problem-solving skills.5 The next to the first reason for teaching game design and production is that it sets girls in the role of technology leaders, which can break down personal identity barriers as well as external barriers, like as gender role stereotyping and discrimination. by the agency of creating a game, the girls expres and work [i]or[/i] part of to the other concerns about social issues and identity.

The program strategies also build upon research about how girls relate to technology. Females are more likely to diocese the computer as a potential tool to improve the world, whereas males are more likely to think of the computer as something to help them master their environment.6 Female learners have less confidence than men in computer science, take fewer chances that might push technology into fresh realms, and are more likely to blame themselves if they do not understand something.7

BARRIERS AND SUPPORTS FOR WOMEN IN TECHNOLOGY

Educators ne to prostrate several barriers to increase girls' active participation in technology. Personal barriers include lack of self-confidence, lack of flowing quality in technology skills, lack of early positive experiences, lack of information about careers, and a belief that technology careers require a solitary lifestyle in brow of a computer.8 Social barriers include lack of support or encouragement from family, mates or school personnel; gender part expectations about girls' role in technology; lack of female part models; and lack of access to computer because striplings dominate available resources.9 Structural barriers include software and programming manuals written by dint of and for males, girls' dislike of narrowly and technically focused programming classes, a perception that the field lacks social relevance, and instructional [i]modus operandi[/i]s that prevent girls from becoming technical problem-solvers10

Research provides a certain number of clues as to how to overwhelm these barriers and increase the numbers of women and girls in IT. single study found that female university learners who persist in computer science have equal support, experience success in a certain quantity of aspect of computing, see computer as useful for expression, and throw aside the stereotype of the computer geek1 ' Other studies have ground that women who persist diocese the intrinsic value of computers12 Learning and working in pairs upon the computer is also related to retention in computer science courses.13

Middle academy is a critical time for intervention, when girls actively begin to explore identities, interests, and talents, and make initial decisions that affect the pathway to participation in IT. In middle gymnasium girls decide about what kinds of classes are consistent with their relationships and identities, and these early decisions affect enrollment in computer classes in high school14 The strategies and objectives of the Girls Creating Games program, described below, are designed to address the personal, social, and structural barriers to active IT participation that face young girls.

Methods

Our modes incorporate a design-based research approach, in which we create and experiment program activities and instructional strategies, then refine them to increase effectiveness.15 This approach provides rich data about connected thought [i]or[/i] thoughtss and mechanisms to describe plausible causal relationships between program strategies and objectives. The data include adult observations and program leader log participant overlooks and interviews, girls' electronic notebook entries, and the games created by means of the girls.

The sixty-two girls in GCG with equal reason far are sixth- to eighth-grade scholars who live in a small city upon the central coast of California (average age = 1211) They are voluntary participants after institute at a public middle institute and during the summer at a local community center When more than twenty-four girls apply, we randomly fix upon girls to participate. The race or ethnicity of the learners reflects that of the city (70 percent white, 25 percent Latina, 5 percent other). The majority (89 percent) of the girls were born in the U on the other hand 43 percent speak a language other than English at domicile at least some of the time. The six adults who have worked directly with the girls as program leaders or teaching assistants are white women trained as teachers, software instructors, and computer programmers.