{"id":3492,"date":"2015-06-11T05:00:37","date_gmt":"2015-06-11T10:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stager.tv\/?p=3492"},"modified":"2020-07-25T18:58:22","modified_gmt":"2020-07-25T23:58:22","slug":"the-key-to-girls-and-computer-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stager.tv\/?p=3492","title":{"rendered":"The Secret Key to Girls and Computer Science"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve been teaching boys\u00a0and<\/em> girls to program computers professionally since 1982 when I created one of the world’s first summer camp computing programs. I led professional development at Methodist Ladies’ College in Melbourne, Australia for a few years beginning in 1990. Girls at MLC used their personal laptops to program in LogoWriter across the curriculum. (read about the history of 1:1 computing and programming here<\/a>). That work led to perhaps as many as 100,000 Australian boys and girls learning to program computers in the early 1990s.<\/p>\n

I taught incarcerated kids in a teen prison to program as part of my doctoral research and currently teach programming to PK-8 girls and boys at The Willows Community School<\/a><\/p>\n

Along the way, I’ve found it easy to engage girls and their teachers in computer programming. Ample access to computers. high expectations, and a competent\u00a0teacher are the\u00a0necessary conditions for girls to view\u00a0themselves as competent programmers. Such confidence and competence unlocks the world of computer science and gaining agency over the machine for learners.<\/p>\n

That said, there is plenty of evidence that girls view computer science like kryptonite. Mark Guzdial<\/a>, Barbara Ericson<\/a>, and others have done a yeoman job of documenting the dismal rates of female participation in school or higher-ed computer science. This reality is only aggravated by the sexism and misogyny\u00a0commonplace in high-tech firms and online.<\/p>\n

Programming is fun. It’s cool. It’s creative. It may not only lead to a career, but more importantly grants agency over an increasingly complex and technologically sophisticated world. Being able to program allows you to solve problems and answer Seymour Papert’s 47\u00a0year-old\u00a0\u00a0question, “Does the computer program the child or the child program the computer?”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Add the\u00a0ubiquity of microcomputers to accessibility of programming languages like Turtle Art<\/a>, MicroWorlds<\/a>, Scratch<\/a>, or\u00a0Snap! <\/a>and there is no excuse for every kid to make things “out of code.”<\/p>\n

All of that aside, girls in the main just don’t find computer science welcoming, relevant, or personally empowering. Entire conferences, government commissions, volumes of scholarship, and media decry the crisis in girls and S.T.E.M. Inspiring girls to embrace computer science remains the holy grail. But…<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a>
The Rolling Spider Minidrone<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I found the key!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Drones<\/p>\n

Girls love to program drones to fly!<\/p>\n

Seriously. Drones.<\/p>\n

\"There<\/a>
There are 2 bugs in this simple Tickle program intended to fly away and back to its operator. Can you find them?
This is an opportunity to reinforce geometric concepts.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I recently purchased an inexpensive small drone, The Parrot Rolling Spider Mini Drone<\/a>. ($80 US) If flying drones is cool. Programming them to fly is even cooler.<\/p>\n

Thanks to a lovely dialect of Scratch called Tickle<\/a>, you can use an iPad to program a flying machine! Most drones have virtual joystick software for flying the plane in real-time, but programming a flight requires more thought, planning, and inevitable debugging. Programmer error, typos, a breeze, or\u00a0physical obstacles often result in hilarity.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, I brought my drone and iPad to a workshop Super-Awesome Sylvia<\/a>\u00a0and I were leading. Primary and secondary school students from a variety of schools assembled\u00a0to explore learning-by-making.<\/p>\n

Late in the workshop, I unleashed the drone.<\/p>\n

Kids were immediately captivated by the drone\u00a0and wanted to try their hand at programming a flight – especially the girls!<\/p>\n

I truly love how such natural play defies so many gender stereotypes. Programming to produce a result, especially control is super cool for kids of all ages. (It’s also worth mentioning that this one of the few “apps” for the iPad that permits actual programming, not just “learning about coding.”)<\/p>\n

\"Primary<\/a>
Primary students program the drone intensely while a boy patiently awaits his turn.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"look
Secondary school girls track the drone<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Can<\/a>
Can you read this program and predict the drone’s behavior?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Check out<\/a> some of the programmable toys and other devices<\/a> you can control with Tickle!<\/p>\n

\u2014\u200a\u2014\u200a\u2014\u200a\u2014\u200a\u2014\u200a\u2014\u200a\u2014\u200a\u2014\u200a\u2014\u200a\u2014\u200a\u2014\u200a\u2014\u200a\u2014\u200a\u2014\u200a\u2014\u200a\u2014\u200a-<\/p>\n

In addition to being a veteran teacher educator, popular speaker, journalist, author, and publisher, Gary is co-author of the bestselling book called the \u201cbible of the maker movement in schools\u201d, Invent To Learn\u200a\u2014\u200aMaking, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom<\/a>. He also leads the Constructing Modern Knowledge<\/a> summer institute and is Publisher at CMK Press<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been teaching boys\u00a0and girls to program computers professionally since 1982 when I created one of the world’s first summer camp computing programs. 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