Volume 1
Issue 1
16 March 1998
Gender
Inequalities in Education
The
Gender Gap in the Computing Field
Whitmore
High School: A Case Study of Computer Usage
Girls
Need Space
Computer
Projects for Mother and Daughter
Expanding
Your Horizons in Math and Science
Computers
and Technology: Differences In Gender
Gender
Bias In Educational Software
Educational
Software For Girls
- Purple Moon: Thanks but No Thanks for Rockett's New School
- Girl Tech - Not Girl Friendly Enough
- Her Interactive
- Broderbund - Classroom Software Done Right
Computers
In the Classroom: What is the Effect on the Gender
Gap?
A PhD student at the University of British Columbia wrote her thesis on how computers were used in a meth and technology class in a local middle school. The teacher of the class, a Mrs. Susanne Ellis, was actually sensitive to gender differences and made attempts to involve the girls in class. Even though most of the students who raised their hands to answer questions were boys, Ellis called on girls who raised their hands as often as the boys. Her teaching methods, which included the use of mind-benders and visuals, encouraged participation and engaged interest. In this case, it seems that the problems that arose with the computers in the classroom did not result from gender-biased teaching. Rather, they seem to result from the atmosphere created by students.In the math class, students were allowed to use the computers in the classroom once they had finished doing the lesson and their homework. The researcher never saw girls use the computers during this time. The girls did not because they were always trying to finish and correct their assignments, working on neatness and details. Boys, on the other hand, frequently used the computers. Perhaps, for whatever reason, the girls were simply not skilled enough at math to finish all their assignments and so earn the privelege of using the computers. However, being denied the priveledge of using the computers could only fortify the girls' feelings of insecurity and inadequacy in math, instead of allowing them to feel more comfortable with and excited about math.
The situation was only slightly different during technology class, class time allotted for work with computers, where boys still dominated the machines. Even though half of the girls had finished their assignments for technology class, they chose to help other girls with their assignments rather than use the computers. They only used the computers if the teacher assigned them to a computer because they had to work on a technology project. The author wrote: "Their access to computers was influenced by whether they had classroom work to complete on the computer, and only guaranteed by Mrs. Ellis' permission or intervention." The author asked some of the girls why they never used the computers, even when they had finished assignments. The general response she received was that they didn't use them "because the boys did." One girl didn't even know that they were allowed to use the computers during free time. When the author informed her of that, the girl was so excited that the author offered to procure a computer for her. However, in doing so she wasn't really providing a solution, and wasn't really helping the girls get access to the computers. To really get equal access to the computers, the girls needed to be able to compete successfully with the boys without active intervention from authority figures. "I was offering to create a space for them", the author writes, "very much like the way in which Mrs. Ellis created a space for them in answering math questions. The only problem was that I couldn't always be there to create that space; neither could Mrs. Ellis."
