Girls and Computers Meeting

From School Computing

April 26, 2007, 6-9pm
Concord Academy
166 Main Street
Concord, MA 01742

Please RSVP: here's a link to the Evite.

Contents 1 Agenda 2 Supplemental Info 2.1 Pamela Mack 2.2 Barbara Bratzel 2.3 Karen McKenzie 2.4 Laurie Heinricher

[edit] Agenda

6:00-7:00 Dinner

6:20 Introductions

6:30 Research, Success Stories, and Best Practices

• Pamela Mack, Clemson University professor and CA Alum

Discussing approaches to thinking about girls and computing

• Barbara Bratzel, Shady Hill School, Cambridge

Discussing her Physics by Design course, which teaches programming

• Karen McKenzie, Miss Porters School, Connecticut

Discussing how she has taught Java to girls

• Laurie Heinricher, Winchester Thurston School, Pittsburgh

Discussing Alice in Programming Land, via phone, with live demo

7:20 Two or three short films about girls in tech:

• A Day in the Life: Small | Medium | Large (118mb)] | More

• I Am an Engineer: Small | Large (55mb mpg)

• You Can Be Anything: Medium (10mb mp4)

7:30 Open discussion. Possible themes:

• Sharing more success stories and best practices
• Reshaping our curricula to make them more "girl-friendly"
• Educating girls about careers in technology
• Encouraging more women to teach advanced computing classes
• Discussing the experiences of girls from childhood to adulthood

8:15 Q&A for two techie girls at CA

• Joy, Class of 2008
• Mary, Class of 2008

8:30 Next steps discussion over dessert

[edit] Supplemental Info

[edit] Pamela Mack

I'm a historian of technology with an interest in the history of women in science and technology. I wrote an article on the impact of feminism on engineering in Feminism in Twentieth-Century Science, Technology, and Medicine. I'm a history professor at Clemson University and run a program on Science and Technology in Society. For my personal history with computers see Pre-microcomputer

Links to my history of computers teaching notes

Professional Home Page

Presentation Notes

[edit] Barbara Bratzel

• Barbara's book, Physics by Design, 2nd ed..

[edit] Karen McKenzie

• Computer Science Anyone? A brief summary of computer science at Miss Porter's School.

[edit] Laurie Heinricher

• What is Alice In Programming Land? From alice.org, where you'll find documentation, forums, and free download.

• Course Description and textbook, Learning to Program with Alice.

• "Girls Ask Alice for Programming Skills" EdWeek, March 19, 2007.

Back to Girls and Computers page.