Hi Helen, all as it happens I've been pondering a similar matter during the last days. I've been invited to give a talk on free software and computer science in general at a girl's school. They have the problem, that their Computer Science classes are very unpopular and apparently on the verge of being canceled. Now, one of the usual reasons that is given for the girls' "disinterest" in technical subjects is, that they feel discouraged by the attending boys. In Germany we have recurring discussions about teaching technical and science subjects in separated classes. (An idea that I, personally, don't like.) Now here we do have an environment that is really girls only and still they do not have any (or much) interest in CS. This only leaves the (I assume male) teachers as a reason.
Now, the school's CS representative, who invited me, hopes, that I can motivate the girls to (re)take an interest in CS. So I now wonder, too, how to talk to young girls/women in order to motivate or inspire them. I've given quite a lot of talks, that have usually been well received, but they have almost all been to an almost exclusively male audience of about my age or older than me. So I now ponder how to adapt my style of talking to this new situation. Thus, I am also very interested in what experiences you people have with teaching/motivating girls/young women and what you think should (not) be done in order to achieve this goal. Greetings, Meike -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
