university of nebraskacse.unl.edu/gem/11-12/final_unposter_2011.pdf · intro survey exit survey...
TRANSCRIPT
Survey Response Before and After the 2010-2011 GEM Project
UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA
The Girl
Empowerment
and Mentoring
(GEM) for
Computing
Project 2010-11
. 68 participants (80)
. 15 schools
. 13 teams
. 8 mentors
. 5 judges
2009-10 statistics . 26 participants (40) . 12 schools . 8 teams . 6 mentors . 5 judges
2008-09 statistics . 40 participants (80) . 12 teams . 12 mentors . 4 judges E-mail: Leen-Kiat Soh, [email protected] http://cse.unl.edu/gem
-2
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
I am
co
nfi
den
t in
my
com
pu
ter
scie
nce
kn
ow
led
ge a
nd
abili
tie
s.
I am
mo
tiva
ted
to
lear
n m
ore
ab
ou
t co
mp
ute
rsc
ien
ce/t
ech
no
logy
.
Wo
men
cer
tain
ly a
re lo
gica
l en
ou
gh t
o d
o w
ell
inco
mp
ute
r sc
ien
ce.
I se
e co
mp
ute
r sc
ien
ce a
s so
met
hin
g as
so
met
hin
g I w
illra
rely
use
in m
y d
aily
life
.
I will
ne
ed c
om
pu
ter
scie
nce
fo
r m
y fu
ture
wo
rk.
I wo
uld
tru
st a
wo
man
just
as
mu
ch a
s I w
ou
ld t
rust
a m
anto
fig
ure
ou
t im
po
rtan
t C
S o
r p
rogr
amm
ing
pro
ble
ms.
Stu
dyi
ng
com
pu
ter
scie
nce
is ju
st a
s ap
pro
pri
ate
fo
rw
om
en
as
for
me
n.
Un
de
rsta
nd
ing
the
su
bje
ct m
atte
r o
f th
is p
roje
ct is
imp
ort
ant
to m
e.
Fem
ale
s ar
e a
s go
od
as
mal
es a
t co
mp
ute
r sc
ien
ce.
Kn
ow
ing
abo
ut
com
pu
ter
scie
nce
will
hel
p m
e ea
rn a
livi
ng
som
ed
ay.
I wan
t to
lear
n a
bo
ut
com
pu
ter
scie
nce
be
cau
se it
is a
use
ful a
nd
ne
cess
ary
sub
ject
.
Aft
er c
om
ple
tin
g th
is p
roje
ct, I
exp
ect
to
tak
e m
ore
CS
or
pro
gram
min
g o
r IT
co
urs
es.
It m
ake
s se
nse
th
at t
her
e a
re m
ore
me
n t
han
wo
men
inco
mp
ute
r sc
ien
ce.
I wo
uld
like
to
maj
or
in c
om
pu
ter
scie
nce
or
com
pu
ter
engi
ne
erin
g w
hen
I go
to
co
llege
.
Intro Survey
Exit Survey
Strong ly agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly disagree
Program Overview
The GEM Project aims to inspire middle and high school girls towards computing in post-secondary education by encouraging female middle and high school students to learn about IT and computing via three important activities:
1. working with a “Big Sister” at UNL who will mentor the participants, 2. working in a team with female students from other schools, and 3. investigating the use of IT and computing in real-world applications.
The contest allows students to learn from their mentors about life as a CS student at UNL, learn how to work as a team with peers, and learn how to investigate a technical topic and write cohesively and engagingly about their findings.
Essay topics are restricted to describing an application of their choice (e.g., CGI in movies) and the in-depth discussion of the CS paradigm(s) underlying the application. GEM mentors work with teams to help them choose an application, identify the CS paradigms, and facilitate the investigation. Essays are judged on a variety of criteria and winning teams are awarded prizes and scholarships.
Local School Visits
• Visited three middle schools this Spring 2011 • A 5-slide presentation on Computational Thinking • A magic show based on NCWIT’s CS Unplugged’s Odd/Even
Parity Activity • A sorting game based on NCWIT’s CS Unplugged’s Sorting
Network Activity • Q&A session with mentors about life in CS and in college • Logical puzzles (4 questions with prizes) • Take home handouts on Image Analysis and Text Compression,
based on CS Unplugged’s program-in-a-box
Shadow-A-Mentor Days
• 7 separate Shadow-A-Mentor Days • A GEM participant visited campus and followed her mentors to
class, and other locations such as the library, union, computer lab, and have lunch together
NEW
“What does a Computer Scientist Do?
Word cloud on response from students before GEM contest
“What does a Computer Scientist Do? Word cloud on response from students after GEM contest Word cloud on response from students before GEM contest
Contact Info: Leen-Kiat Soh | E-mail: [email protected] | Website: http://cse.unl.edu/gem