Building up girls' technology skills

Program exposes pupils to field to pique interest

Lauren Priebe discovered new powers last week.

Using two pairs of pliers as levers, the eighth-grader and others at Corkran Middle School bent pennies until they snapped in half.

"I feel strong," the 13-year-old Severn resident said.

Organizers of Project ESTEEM want girls such as Lauren to maintain their strength for a more daunting task - overcoming the pressures that might discourage them from entering technical careers.

Project ESTEEM, or Enhancing Science & Technology Education & Exploration Mentoring, exposes seventh- and eighth-graders to technology through hands-on activities and field trips.

The program, a partnership between centers at University of Maryland, Baltimore County, is targeting girls at two Anne Arundel County middle schools - Corkran and Brooklyn Park - and plans to expand to four additional schools in the Baltimore area over the next two years. Boys are also welcome.

Project ESTEEM is funded by a $900,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. Up to two dozen pupils will meet weekly for nearly four months, as well as for a month during the summer. Participants also will take field trips on weekends to places such as the Smithsonian Institution.

The goal is to reach girls in middle school before they decide that technology is not for them. For years, educators and school districts have been aware that the number of girls pursuing interests in science and math often dwindles as they proceed through high school.

"We know the numbers of women going into information technology have been declining for years, nationally as well as locally," said Claudia Morrell, director of UMBC's Center for Women and Information Technology. "The only way we're going to change that trend is to address the problem at the source - the decisions girls make at middle and high school."

Women seem to be pursuing higher education in some scientific fields more than others, Morrell said.

In 2001, about half the students who received bachelor's degrees in biological sciences and mathematics were women, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Fewer than a third of those who majored in computer science were female, however, down from nearly 37 percent in 1985.

"All we really have to do is let girls know that they're welcome in those fields," she added.