Program for Gender Equity in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology (PGE): Girls Re-designing and Excelling in Advanced Technology (GREAT!)

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The Miami Museum of Science proposes to design and implement an innovative model program to increase the confidence, interest and preparedness of girls to pursue academic and employment opportunities related to high end careers in the field of information technology (IT). Titled GREAT! (Girls Redesigning and Excelling in Advanced Technology), the project will build on the body of research related to girlsand IT to develop and model effective methodologies for engaging girls as designers -- as opposed to simply users -- of IT applications. The overall goal of GREAT! is to raise interest and skills in advanced technology applications among middle school girls, particularly girls of color, resulting in increased representation of females inacademic programs and employment opportunities leading to high end IT careers. Specific objectives of GREAT! are to build girls' confidence and expertise with advanced technology applications; to engage them in the use of advanced technology to solve real world problems; to strengthen girls' communication and presentation skills; to contribute to and inform the field through a comprehensive evaluation of projectoutcomes, and to disseminate project methodologies and findings among informal science education institutions and other interested parties. The Museum will collaborate with Miami Dade County Public School's Urban SystemicProgram to recruit 40 middle school girls each year, for a total of 120 girls over theduration of the project. Over the course of a two year period, participants will assume the roles of IT designers, acquiring progressively complex technology skills culminating in the creation of a fully interactive 3 D virtual Museum exhibit experience.Girls will begin by participating in a 12 week Saturday Technology Workshop which will take place over the course of the academic year. Following completion of the Technology Workshop series, girls will take part in a 4 week intensive summer Design Studio in which they will use state of the art virtual reality (VR) technology to create a VRproduction showcasing an invention of their own design. Girls will work in teams of four, with each team assigned a mentor (a female college student majoring in computertechnology or a related field) who will provide technical guidance and serve as a rolemodel. Upon completing their productions, girls will strengthen their presentation skillsand increase self esteem and self confidence through Family Night presentations and by exhibiting and interpreting their work to visitors in the Museum galleries for a one month period during the subsequent academic year. The Museum will contract with VR Visions and the Center for Children and Technologyto provide design support. Kathleen Tyner of Media Analysis & Practice will serve as the project's external evaluator, responsible for formative and summative evaluation of project activities.