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Informal Learning:

Informal technology training outside of the classroom can lead to higher baseline skills within the classroom.


High School Girls Use PicoCrickets to Learn Programming Skills Download PDF Now

In 2007, 14 high school girls at Oakland Tech High School in Oakland, California spent an hour and a half each week studying circuitry, bridge building, soldering, toy design, green design and robotics through the Techbridge program's science, technology and engineering outreach. Among the resources used to teach the girls were PicoCricket Kits, which mixes robotics and programming with creativity in design. By the end of the 5 week PicoCrickets course, girls were excited about the possibilities of computer programming and were no longer wary of their own abilities to program.



PicoCrickets: Girl Friendly Kits that Teach Robotics and Engineering Skills
See PicoCrickets in Action at WomenTechStore.com

PicoCricket Kits engage your female students in robotics, programming, math, science, and engineering principles! PicoCrickets are tiny computers that can make things spin, light up, and play music! As your female students work on PicoCricket project themes, they learn important math, science, and engineering principles -- and gain a deeper understanding of the process of design and invention. Your girls (or boys!) can plug lights, motors, sensors, and other devices into a PicoCricket, then program them to react, interact, and communicate. Let your students' creativity thrive with the many possibilities that PicoCrickets provide!



Scigirls DVDs and Activity Guides: Science For Girls, By Girls
Preview SciGirls Videos and Activity Guides at WomenTechStore.com

DragonflyTV's SciGirls feature a group of hip, racially diverse girls from around the country having fun with science and getting down and dirty while explaining and demonstrating science concepts and serving as role models for your female students. Over four hours of videos, a 15-minute teacher-training case study, 18 profiles of female scientists, and 2 corresponding full color activity guides are available.



WonderWise Women in Science Kits Provide Real Women Scientists as Role Models for Your Students
Preview WonderWise Videos at WomenTechStore.com

These 9 WonderWise: Women in Science Kits feature exciting careers, via a DVD, CD-ROM and print activity guide. These real women scientists are role models who will make science come alive for your female (and male!) students. Your students will see that scientists are people who are curious about the wonders of the world...just like them!





The CalWomenTech Project is Funded by The Program for Research on Gender in Science and Engineering from The National Science Foundation - Grant no. 0533564
 
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