Expanding Your Horizons – Encouraging math and science careers among girls

When did you first become interested in computers and technology? For me, it didn’t really click until college. In high school, we didn’t have computer science, but I loved calculus and physics, and I was even on the math team. Still, I relegated math and science to just another subject. Math and science weren’t so special.

That’s why I love Expanding Your Horizons, a program that encourages interest in math and science careers among middle-school-aged young women. They bring in women scientists to give talks and lead workshops, lending a real-world spark to the seemingly abstract world of doing science and tech for living.

I’ve led workshops for EYH the previous two years, and both have been a blast. Although it’s been a while since my junior high days, I try to put myself in their shoes: What would have interested me at that age? If I can find the answer, maybe these girls will discover a love for science earlier than I did.

The two events I’ve volunteered for have been a learning curve for me, certainly more than for the girls who attended my workshops. The first year, my bright idea was using popsicle sticks I had painstakingly created (each with the title of a book and author in tiny handwriting) to demonstrate creating an inverted index. That exercise turned out a little more boring than I expected. (“Popsicle sticks? Oh boy!” was never uttered.)

I also used a phonebook as a metaphor to illustrate binary search—and came to find out, few of them had used a phonebook before. That make you feel old? Me too.

The next year, I decided I wanted to create something in the workshop, something each girl could take home. So I introduced them to the concept of binary numbers, and each girl made an individual calendar out of legos with her birthday on it. Red for one, white for zero. The girls who finished faster killed the remaining time by deciphering one another’s calendars.

The legos were more fun, for the girls and for me. I sure haven’t figure out how to share a love of science and math, but I hope that a few of them found binary numbers interesting and fun in lego form. Next year, I hope I can come up with something even better.

Have you shared a love of science and technology with a younger generation? What did you do, and how did it work?

Related posts:

1. Science Contest – Girls Shatter the Glass Ceiling
2. Computer Science Education Act of 2010
3. Celebrating Young Women in Computing
4. The White House Science Fair: Wish you were young again?
5. 5 Strategies for Success