Teachers observed positive behaviors from several girls outside
the club as a result of the EX.I. T.E. experience. Girls who came
in with low confidence seemed to display a higher level of
confidence in other settings as our program progressed.
roles during social activities outside of
the classroom such as in the cafeteria
and the hallways. We realized that
once offered the right environment,
in this case a small group of girls,
they seemed to be more confident in
their abilities and as a result chose to
exhibit behaviors they normally were
not comfortable displaying, such as
leadership and oral participation.
and authentication of the entire experience provided by the IBM mentors.
Most important, the collaboration
pilot project offered the girls a unique
opportunity to engage in a structured
engineering and educational technology experience that was tailor made
to meet their interests. We hope it will
inspire them to pursue more education and possibly a career in math,
science, and/or technology.
Staying Excited
Collaborating with a private sector
company offered a great way to provide our middle school girls with an
authentic experience in managing a
project using a variety of technologies. Through this pilot project, we
were able to benefit from each other’s
strengths: the teaching and pedagogy
of the participating CMS teachers and
the knowledge of project management
Resources
Arrange-a-Room: www.bhg.com/bhg/
category.jhtml?categoryid=/template
data/bhg/category/data/arrangearoom
test.xml&ordersrc=google1roomplan_
tool&s_kwcid=room%20design|350274442
Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States
Department of Labor: www.bls.gov/
EX.I. T.E.: www.ibm.com/ibm/ibmgives/
grant/education/ camp.shtml
MentorPlace, IBM and EdReach, Inc.:
mentorplace.org/login.do
Russell Martin & Associates:
www.russellmartin.com/
Statistics for Women in Science, KPBS:
www.kpbs.org/kids_family/science/
scigirls/women_science
Bjorn Norstrom is a technology
teacher at Colchester Middle
School. He is a licensed educational technology specialist holding Microso , Comp TIA, and
Certiport certi cations. He is a
2005 recipient of the Champion
of Digital Literacy award.
Carol W. Smith teaches seventh
and eighth grade science at
Colchester Middle School and
is the science facilitator for the
building. Smith was recognized
as an Outstanding Vermont
Teacher in 2000. She has been
teaching for 17 years.
Annika Haglund is an IT
systems engineer and project
manager with IBM. She also
serves as the EX.I. T.E. liaison
to CMS. Haglund holds an
MS degree in mathematics
and certi cations in project
management and CPIM.
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