MPWG: Internet Explorers: Using New Technolgies to Encourage Women Toward SEM Careers

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High school girls who have completed their junior year will spend eight weeks during the summer on the Iowa State University (ISU) campus where they will research programming methods and develop biological and physical science, engineering, and mathematics (SEM) units for the Internet. These units will be designed to get middle school girls to explore careers in those areas. The summer research interns will be directed by a team of four female graduate students who have demonstrated ability in computers, are trained in courseware development, and are in SEM-related fields. A fifth female graduate student in secondary education will work as consultant to the team to provide expertise in curricular content, educational delivery, and impact on the targeted middle school students. Although the graduate women's experiences also will enhance their professional development, the primary goal of increasing girls' participation in SEM will be accomplished through the following: developing computer Internet explorations packages that will attract middle school girls to SEM; training high school girls in the use of computer technology to design and develop the explorations package, which will be the focus of their summer research internship on the ISU campus; using ISU graduate women in SEM to supervise the explorations package development process on a daily basis, adding a special dimension to their graduate school experience; working with experts in middle school education to achieve the desired impact; disseminating the developed packages through the Internet; publicizing these readily available, no-cost resource packages to statewide education agencies through announcements in education journals, at educator conferences, and at career exploration events for middle school girls and community groups like the Girl Scouts and 4-H; and advertising the project and its product nationwide through notes to education-oriented newsgroups and through reports at conferences on edu cation, computers, and gender issues.