I went to Almonte and District High School yesterday for a pilot project called Futures Fair. Community members were invited to give workshops and mock university lectures to students who could sign up for the topics they were interested in. I did my usual computer science stuff, this time talking about how artificial intelligence and computer graphics are used in games.
One of the coolest things was seeing a girl from my very first mini-course Computer Science and Games: Just for Girls! four years ago. She was in grade nine then, and grade twelve now. She was so excited to see me, and still totally enthusiastic about the CS stuff I talked about and the activities we did. She showed good understanding of the material, too. It was awesome!
Of course, I then had to ask her what she had applied for at university. I secretly crossed my fingers it would be something technical.
Her answer?
Political science and law.
(Needless to say I was sad. I did at least tell her she could consider a minor in CS.)
I was one of those girls (parents, etc were hoping I'd go into CS, but did something else for undergrad).
ReplyDeleteNow I'm finally working towards a CS degree... This might only be the case for the school I'm at, but most of the female CS majors I've met have been drawn to the HCI or graphics/visualization side of things. I wonder if that might be a good way to try to recruit girls to CS - once I found out about the viz side of CS, I was hooked!
I think would help. It's a real shame that HCI is pretty separated from CS at our school. :(i
ReplyDeletePolitics and law are very logic-oriented professions, so don't be too disheartened. My g/f is a Math major, but has done IT support in the past (and helps me at work with it: I'm a SysAdmin). Another friend helps a mutual friend do IT support, and is into gaming and such: she's an English major. I also know a lot of girl geeks that aren't into CompSci specifically, but are tech-savvy nonetheless. Here in FL, it does seem that girls get into computers from other fields, vs it being a primary focus.
ReplyDeleteTrue enough - I can only hope she'll take some classes!
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