Elizabeth Fulton built a computer this summer. She is 10 years old.
"I thought it was going to be so hard, but actually it was pretty easy," said Elizabeth, a fifth-grader at Central Accelerated School in Chillicothe, Missouri. "We learned about different things in the computer like the motherboard, CPU, and the BIOS."
See also: Wanted: Women in Tech- - - - - -
Elizabeth took part in an innovative teaching program designed by women teachers who want to encourage girls to study math, science, and technology.
The American Association of University Women's Educational Foundation awarded 19 Eleanor Roosevelt fellowships last month.
The grant -- awarded this year to teachers from Montana to Missouri -- was established after a 1992 AAUW study, How Schools Shortchange Girls, found girls were lagging behind boys in science, math, and technology.
Their scores weren't as high, and girls weren't pursuing technology careers in the same numbers as boys, the study showed. Girls used computers primarily for word processing and data entry, whereas boys used the machines for programming and problem-solving.
Connie Dow, who started the technology camp Elizabeth attended, observed the same things firsthand in the classroom.
"The girls were backing off and letting the boys take charge of the computer," she said. "I was trying to think of different ways to encourage girls in the area of technology. I wanted to give them a little edge on feeling confident."
At the technology camp, second- through sixth-grade girls built two computers in one week. They learned how to clean and maintain the machines, install software, use email, and to operate a digital camera so they could create photo-journals of their progress.
This fall, the girls will be tech leaders at the school. They will help set up new school computers, tutor other students in technology skills, and install programs for teachers. Next summer, they will help teach the camp. Dow said she considers the program a success. "I saw them go from being hesitant to being enthused."
A Montana teacher created a program for fifth-grade girls whom she feels might otherwise "fall between the cracks."
Sally Triplett said girls’ self confidence suffers as they move toward middle school.
"It’s hormone hell. Girls find out that sometimes it’s 'better' to act dumb rather than promote themselves." She hopes her program will help girls build self-esteem and pride in their achievements.
In her program, which begins this fall, the girls will meet after school once a week to work with math software. Parents, who often have little computer experience themselves, will come to the computer lab to practice technology skills with their daughters. At the end of the year, the girls will create a Web site.
Next year, Triplett hopes to expand the program to other grades and schools.
A separate program in Aberdeen, South Dakota, will pair senior and junior high girls for mentoring. Senior high student Brandy Schaubel, who will be a mentor this fall, said that in junior high, "guys sort of ran the class, especially with math."
Patricia Long’s program, called "Dorothy Loose in the Lab" -- a play on her Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, location -- is an after-school club. Local women scientists will visit, and girls will plan activities that explore what their guests do.
"[We want] to connect a real person to an activity," said Long.
Other grant recipients will use the funds to teach girls how to build and program functional robots, explore engineering concepts, evaluate water quality, and use a scanning electron microscope. Critics might argue that programs geared toward girls unfairly exclude boys, but advocates say the programs are necessary to help girls catch up.
"In 'equal' classrooms, inequality is still going on," said Peg Boyle Singleton, a spokeswoman for MentorNet, an organization that pairs women in technology fields with female college students studying similar subjects.
"Boys are more strongly encouraged in engineering and science fields," said Singleton. "We need to look at these programs in the broad educational landscape."
Women who work in tech fields are concerned that so few women pursue careers in the sciences. At the Women in Technology International conference earlier this summer, keynote speaker Judy Estrin, chief technology officer at Cisco Systems, urged attendees to encourage and promote girls' achievement in science and tech subjects.
Anita Borg, president and founding director of the Institute for Women and Technology, said that if women and minorities participated in information technology fields the way white men do, there wouldn't be the shortage of qualified workers that companies are currently concerned about.
She believes there should be more programs like the Eleanor Roosevelt fellowship.
"This is an example of a wonderful but small program that will have a local impact, but we have a national problem," said Borg. "There aren’t enough of these [programs]."
