Donna wrote about tinkering - a very important issue. We have been trying
to
invite girls to tinker virtually (not the same thing, of course). It became
clear to us in the course of some research that one of the benefits of
tinkering is that you learn to understand something about the relationship
between parts and wholes, form and function. You learn to think
systematically, even if the conceptual system you use is not anything like
the labels and concepts you would learn in school. So we did a project
called "Imagination Place!" (http://www.edc.org/CCT/imagination_place/)
where we invited girls to invent futuristic, fantastic, whimsical
technology
by composing it with graphic stamps we made for them - and then animating
their invention.
It's the animation that comes closest to hands-on tinkering. To animate
their invention, they need to think about what moves where and why. It's
not
as good as real hands-on tinkering, I think, but it's not bad either. It
permits girls to use their imagination to create fantastic machines that
solve real world problems, without being stopped in their tracks 9and
discouraged) by their lack of math and science knowledge. The hope is that
they start to think of themselves as the potential developers of new
technologies (and of the world we live in as a designed space which can be
altered and re-designed) - and that they might become interested in taking
the kinds of courses in school that allow them to do that kind of inventing
in real life. We've found that this process interests a lot of girls,
including the Barbie-lovers, and seems to be a way into the technological
universe for them. Of course, we don't have any data on whether any of them
are inspired to actually take those important courses in school, but it's
very suggestive about alternative introductions to technology.
Donna Milgram at donnam@iwitts.com wrote:
..........Aha, this is what I was talking about in my earlier e-mail, these
tinkering
skills. Shireen, it sounds like the interest came naturally to you and that
you just jumped in there and pursued these interests and competed with the
boys
because you felt comfortable doing so.....
Shireen Mitchell <director@digital-sistas.org> wrote:
..........Technology today is developed in the very same frame of mind and
I agree
100% it needs to include diverse frames of mind, not just the need for
speed or the largest capacity but how it enables us to connect to our
society.
This division of gender is purely a social issue. If every girl was given
the same radio (boys are given) to take apart and to put back together
instead of the Barbie doll then we wouldn't be having this discussion. I
also say this in lieu of the fact that I never had a Barbie doll and
never wanted one. My mother never shoved one into my hand she allowed me to
develop with my interests and then foster my interests even if it didn't
match the social norms. I have a clear memory of quitting dance class to
play sports particularly basketball (basketball was not a thing a girl
should do back then) when I was 12. My mother paid for my classes but she
did not argue or force me to go back to dancing. This was only the
beginning.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : Fri Apr 12 2002 - 15:16:51 EDT