[ap-compsci] Re: Attracting women to CS I have a good number of successful girls in my
computer science classes.  In fact, 60% of my students
who passed an APCS test last year were female.

I attribute this to four things:

1) Girls are at least as capable in CS as boys.  In
fact, I find that as a group, they are better
planners.

2) All students at my school are required to take
pre-AP computer science.  This eliminates many of the
"traditional" barriers to girls taking their first CS
class.

3) I do my best to make my classes "friendly" for all
my students.  This is not as easy as it sounds.  I
have been involved in a gender equity group for the
past one and a half years.  During that time I have
learned a lot about  the messages girls receive and my
participation in those messages.  Color me "still
learning".

4) I spend a lot of time in my pre-AP class with Karel
J Robot.  My students really like Karel, especially
the Girls.

=====
--
Robert Glen Martin
TAG Magnet High School

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