A letter from Mar 09, 2025

Dear FutureMe, I'm starting a new school year and are presumably still a technology integrator at Cape Elizabeth High School. I've been thinking about how to get more girls into the Intro Coding and now Game Development classes. From my work last spring in EDT 531, I've been reminded that there are MANY ways to get more girls in coding and STEM more broadly, but that the part in my control is to teach or help in these classes by focusing as much as possible on real-world outcomes. The UNESCO report on from 2019 notes clearly that, "Curricula that are gender-balanced and take account of girls’ interests, for example, linking abstract concepts with real-life situations, can help increase girls’ interest in STEM." (UNESCO, 12) Emily Ong from Girls Who Code echoed this point in a zoom chat with an earlier version of the UMaine 531 class using words like "real world, relevant, and solving a problem in the community." (Ong) Reminder - Strongly consider updating the syllabus and final projects for coding classes to go beyond math-y stuff. Have students identify needs in the school such as stress and mental health challenges. Build a final program or game that addresses one of these challenges. While you're at it, keep working with Alex (the primary coding teacher) to go along with this idea. He has two daughters and gets that girls need thoughtful curriculum to stay engaged. Building numbers up takes time! Also, consider using the phrase, "Brave not Perfect" with students. This is an original motto from the founder of Girls Who Code and really struck a nerve with me last spring. Make signs and put them all around the school. Maybe an even better idea, connect with the student Active Minds group to consider adding this to their ongoing work on student mental health issues in the school. Reminder: No matter what crazy stuff is going on in the big world, there's always time to keep making a difference, especially with kids. That's why you moved back to teaching, right?!!! Cracking the Code:Girls’ and Women’s Education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), UNESCO, 2017, unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000253479/PDF/253479eng.pdf.multi. Accessed 09 Mar. 2025. Wallace, Andy. “GirlsWhoCode2020 (Zoom Chat with Emily Ong)." YouTube, 22 Mar. 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcallWRg8K8. Accessed 05 Mar. 2025.)