Panel Encourages Women To Delve Into Technology

Stressing the need for girls to utilize current technology and to become more interested in science, a panel of Boston-area women held a discussion on girls and women in technology in the Gutman Library at the Graduate School of Education last night.

About 40 people attended the event, which was sponsored by the Fourth Annual Women in Technology Mini-Conference and the Harvard Education Forum.

Panelist Lauren Bigelow, director of product technology at Cybersmith, discussed the growing trend in children's entertainment toward "girl games"--computer games specifically geared to attract young girls.

The disparity in computer usage between girls and boys that begins as early as age eight may be narrowing, Bigelow said. Sales of "girl games" are up and 52 percent of America Online users are now women.

Panelist Ruth Tanner, a chemistry professor at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, discussed other methods of stimulating interest in math and science in middle school girls, through a program she coordinates called Women in Science and Engineering (WISE).

WISE presents role models to the middle schoolers in workshops, introducing the girls to various professions and fields of study.

"Up until about 6th grade, boys and girls are just people, they're about the same, "Tanner said. But then major physiological changes contribute to a dramatic disparity in interests.

The program aims to get girls to connect with science and become interested in subjects which ordinarily they would have avoided.

The other panelists were program developer Stina Cooke and education programs manager Rachel Garber, both from the Computer Clubhouse Network at The Computer Museum in Boston, an after-school program that introduces children to technology.

Before the discussion, GSE visiting scholar Peggy Charren was honored with the 1998 Women in Technology Leadership Award for her long commitment and contributions to bringing quality television to children.

In 1968, Charren founded the advocacy organization Action for Children's Television, which successfully lobbied Congress to pass the Children's Television Act in 1990.