IDPO/WG: Girls on Track: Increasing Middle-Grade Girls' Interest in Math-Related Careers by Engaging Them in Computer-Based Mathematical Explorations of Urban Problems

尽管预科高中数学课程中女生的保留率有所提高，但女大学生继续不成比例地避开与数学相关的专业，如计算机科学、工程和物理。为了解决这一持续存在的问题，为期三年、面向200名中年级女孩的多机构干预计划--女孩在轨道上，将聘请50名在职代数I教师、15名辅导顾问和30名数学教育本科生，开发和提供暑期学院和全年活动，以提高中年级女孩利用计算机技术学习数学的热情和信心。使用从公共的、基于互联网的数据库中提取的真实数据集，女孩将与各种常见的和最先进的计算机应用程序一起工作，以构建基于数学的解决方案，解决她们自己城市环境中的问题。北卡罗来纳州维克县及其周围的研究三角地区是美国发展最快的地区之一。女孩们将探索模式和功能、空间推理、概率和统计学，通过将这些概念应用于她们自己的罗利-达勒姆地区的社会问题，如公立学校和低收入住房的短缺，污染和森林砍伐的增加，公共交通系统的不足，研究三角地区许多与数学相关的技术人员和专业生涯缺乏合格的人才。在辅导辅导员的安慰下，女孩还将发展自己的职业轨迹，以及探索性别和少数群体在结构分析领域的过去和现在的趋势。在一年一度的暑期学院期间，教师和辅导顾问将使用行动研究来完善这些严格的基于计算机的数学探索。女孩的其他活动包括与数学导师结对；入职前教师的辅导；与辅导员会面；陪同导师在“带女儿上班日”；在索尼娅·科瓦列夫斯基日参加团队比赛；以及年度颁奖晚宴。项目合作伙伴包括北卡罗来纳州立大学数学和科学教育研究中心以及数学教育、计算机科学和顾问教育系；梅雷迪思，这是一所私立女子学院，拥有强大的数学指导计划，附属于当地行业；维克公司，公立学校，学生人数迅速增长，达到8.5万人；以及北卡罗来纳州公共指导部。其他贡献者包括IBM、美国数学协会和附近研究三角公园的许多其他公司，这些公司通过其女科学家和数学家的工作时间赞助数学指导部分。北卡罗来纳州州计算机科学部将通过互联网站公开提供有关妇女和少数族裔的互动数学课和女孩的文件夹和演示文稿，并将其链接到北卡罗来纳州数学和科学教育网年度全州大学前教育计划的中央网站Learn-NC，同时项目成果将在专业会议和评估的期刊上传播。

HRD-9813902Sarah BerensonDespite increased retention of girls in advance high school math programs, female college entrants continue to disproportionately avoid such math-related majors as computer science, engineering, and physics. To counter this persistent problem, Girls on Track, a three-year, multi-institutional intervention program for 200 middle-grade girls, will engage 50 in-service Algebra I teachers, 15 guidance counselors, and 30 math education undergraduates in developing and delivering Summer Academies and year-round activities to increase middle grade girls' enthusiasm for and confidence in learning mathematics, using computer technology. Using real data sets pulled from public, Internet-based databases, girls will work with a variety of common and state-of-the-art computer applications to construct mathematics-based solutions to problems in their own urban environment, Wake County, NC Wake County, with the surrounding Research Triangle area, is one of the most rapidly developing regions in the US Girls will explore patterns and functions, spatial reasoning, and probability and statistics by applying these concepts to such social problems in their own Raleigh-Durham area as the shortage of public schools and low-income housing, increased pollution and deforestation, insufficient mass transit systems, and shortage of qualified persons for the many mathematics-related technician and professional careers in the Research Triangle. In consolation with guidance counselors, girls will also develop trajectories of their own careers, as well as explore past and present trends in gender and minority representation in SEM fields. During annual Summer Academies, teachers and guidance counselors will use action research to refine these rigorous computer-based mathematics explorations. Other activities for girls include pairing with Math Mentors; tutoring by pre-service teachers; meeting with counselors; accompanying Mentors on "Take Your Daughter to Work Day;" team competitions on Sonya Kovalevsky Day; and an Annual Awards Banquet. Project partners include NC State University's Center for Research in Math and Science Education and Departments of Math Education, Computer Science, and Counselor Education; Meredith, a private women's college with a strong Math Mentoring Program affiliated with local industry; Wake Co. Public Schools, with a rapidly growing student population of 85,000; and the NC Department of Public Instruction. Additional contributors include IBM, the Math Association of America, and the many other corporations in nearby Research Triangle Park that sponsor the Math Mentoring component through the staff time of their female scientists and mathematicans. Interactive math lessons and girls' portfolios and presentations on women and minorities in SEM careers will be made publicly available by the NC State Computer Science department via Internet sites, and linked to LEARN- NC, the centralized web site for the NC Mathematics and Science Education Network's annual statewide pre-college program, while project results will be disseminated a professional conferences and in evaluated journals.