Category Archives: Gender

UBC Girls’ Makeathon

Leadership opportunities are available for Teacher Candidates to volunteer at the UBC Girls’ Makeathon! This is an equity-oriented event for high school girls to learn how to make apps and have fun exploring maker activities with recycled materials and wearable technologies.

You need to be available to volunteer on June 17 @ the Makeathon. Also, we require that you attend a one-hour event planning meeting on May 16 (please share when you are available on the Google Form). No previous experience is necessary: we will train you! We will have a fun training session on app making, wearable tech, and the ADST curriculum. This two-hour training session will be coordinated according to the availability of our volunteers.

Our project team is committed to providing a respectful and empowering learning environment for high school girls. We have an inclusive view of the word “girl” and welcome trans, genderqueer, and non-binary youth at the Makeathon. We warmly welcome Teacher Candidates of all gender and from culturally diverse backgrounds. If you are interested, please fill out this Google Form ASAP: goo.gl/2d39XB

Upcoming Workshop: Technology Education for All

GenderDiversityInclusionTechEd

The bad news: tech classrooms lack gender diversity.
The good news: we know how to change this!

Join Paula MacDowell for a workshop that emphasizes the importance of collaborating to build a diverse technology-literate society. We will explore strategies for working together to:
* increase non-traditional enrolment
* create non-stigmatizing learning environments
* design inclusive classrooms that meet learners’ needs

Questions:
1. What do you think about when you think of gender equity in technology?
2. Why is it important to increase participation of minority groups (i.e., gender, race, class, technical ability, and sexual orientation) in technology education classes and programs?
3. Have you observed or experienced a gendering of school subjects?
4. Who or what gave you the most support in your decision to become a technology education teacher?
5. How do we challenge the persistence of gendered learning myths (or “dinosaur discourses”) in technical education contexts (Paule, 2015)?
6. What can be done to improve the enrolment of diverse students in technology education classes during elementary, secondary, and post-secondary schooling?
7. How might we recruit and retain more females into careers as technology education teachers and professors of technology teacher education?
8. How can you make inclusion possible in your classroom (with respect for human dignity, safety, and the environment)?
9. How should we shape the future of technology education for all?

Resources:
Ashcraft, C., DuBow, W., Eger, E., Blithe, S. & Sevier, B. (2013). Male Advocates and Allies: Promoting Gender Diversity in Technology Workplaces. Boulder, CO: National Center for Women & Information Technology.
Online: www.ncwit.org/maleadvocateindustry

Fenwick T (2004) What happens to the girls? Gender, work and learning in Canada’s ‘new economy’, Gender and Education, 16(2), pp. 169-185.
Online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09540250310001690564

Flowers, J. (1995). Women in technology: Increasing the number of female teachers and students. WEPAN National Conference Proceedings: Women in Engineering ProActive Network, June 4-6, Washington, DC.
Online: https://journals.psu.edu/wepan/article/viewFile/57792/57480

Gray, M., & Daugherty, M. (2004). Factors that influence students to enroll in technology education programs. Journal of Technology Education, 15(2), 5-19.
Online: http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JTE/v15n2/gray.html

National Institute for Women in Trades, Technology & Science (Donna Milgram)
Online resource and forum for women in technology and trade careers to network with other women technicians and/or employers, including: job listings, e-mentoring, biographies of women role models, and WomenTechTalk an email discussion group.

Paule, M. (2015) Dinosaur discourses: Taking stock of gendered learning myths. Gender and Education, 27(7), 744-758.
Onine: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2015.1093101

Pullman, A. (2015). Emancipation, marketisation, and social protection: The female subject within vocational training policy in Canada, 1960–1990, Gender and Education, 27(7), 759-775.
Online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2015.1103840

Ritz, J. M. (2009). A new generation of goals for technology education. Journal of Technology Education, 20(2), 50-64.
Online: https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JTE/v20n2/pdf/ritz.pdf

Shannon, L. (2016). Want to encourage gender diversity? Choose your words WISEly. Computing Research News, 28(5), 7-9.
Online: http://cra.org/crn/2016/05/gender-diversity

Doll Web Sites Drive Girls to Stay Home and Play

Interesting article in the New York Times today about girls and social networking sites. The second page has some quotes from Sherry Turkle.