Dear Jeff, et. al., Interesting questions. Here are my experiences... Jeff Sandys wrote:

I have been trying to get and keep a broad range of middle school students in the after school programming club that I supervise. Some girls show up to the first sesson but by the second session only the "geek boys" return.

I have had some success in keeping girls involved in the Middle School computer clubs that I have done. It hasn't been overwhelming but they have had a presence. Generally, I have had about 30% girls ( 4 out of 12). In one Mars Space camp I did we had more than half girls.

Some of the suggestions from some female programmers that I work with are:

* Girls want a woman instructor. (I wish)

In all cases, my partner (an instructional aide or a teacher) has been a woman. Actually, I think it is very advisable to have a woman partner - certified teacher or instructor - these days--particularly when one is a volunteer as I am and not a certified teacher--and particularly when it is an after-school activity. During the sign up period, the teacher / instructor has been very instrumental in encouraging particular students who would appear to be interested but perhaps a bit reticient -- even to the point of encouraging one to get a friend to also come to the Computer Club sessions.

* Girls want to solve problems not program. (give problems)

My tack has been neither. The focus has been to treat programming as a "language art". The goal for the several club sessions has been to end up with each student writing an interactive adventure story where adventure really means any story that the student wants to write that involves scenes, experiences, and choices where the choices than dictate the next scenes, experiences and choices to be had. This is similar to the game "Adventure" that came out a long time ago or similar to the "Choose Your Own Adventure" books that are available.

* Girls think in terms of objects not functions. (focus on object oriented programming)

I have not done that. My previous several club sessions have been using Perl and the approach has been fairly procedural. This Fall I am doing something very similar but in Python where I have tried to embrace the object oriented approach. I don't think the girls have taken to it any more (or any less) than the boys.

* Girls like to socialize. (use pairs programming)

It has been helpful to have the girls partner with someone of their own choosing. It's also occurred with the boys as well. It's been important to remember (for me) that a club is supposed to be more of a social experience overall and (for me) to not be too heavy duty goal oriented. Fortunately, my partner teacher/instructional-aides have tended to know more of where the kids are coming from and push things in a more balanced direction.

I want to avoid stereotypes, but some differences may be genetic or an archtype that won't change in the short term. Like sports, it needs a special effort to start getting more women involved in programming.

I don't think this is the case--at least in my experience. As an instructor in this area, I do have to make sure I am sensitive to >all< students' requests for help. The guys tend to yammer at me and will dominate my entire time. The girls will ask less forcefully. I have learned that I have to notice when a guy is making too much use of my time and make sure that I get around to the each girl and give her her share of attention. Again, my partners have helped. We talk about each individual and how they are doing after each session and try to adapt the next session's time to whatever we see as necessary for their development.

What are your thoughts on getting and keeping more middle school girls involved in programming?

You can see more of my experiences on my web site (address given below) where my Perl computer club efforts since 1997 are written up. --D. -- Dr. David J. Ritchie, Sr. djrassoc01@mindspring.com http://home.mindspring.com/~djrassoc01/