Abstract

The purpose of the Girls on Track (GoT) project is to increase Middle Grade Girls' interest in math-related careers by engaging them in computer-based mathematical explorations of urban problems in their communities. It is a joint project between North Carolina State University (Center for Research in Mathematics and Science Education and Department of Computer Science), Meredith College, Wake County Public Schools, and North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

The project is supported by the National Science Foundation (HRD-9813902) and the IBM Corporation.

Despite increased retention of girls in advanced high school math programs, female college entrants continue to disproportionately avoid such math-related majors as computer science, engineering, and physics. To counter this persistent problem, Girls on Track, a three-year, multi-institutional intervention program for 200 middle-grade girls, will engage 50 in-service Algebra I teachers, 15 guidance counselors, and 30 math education undergraduates in developing and delivering Summer Academies and year-round activities to increase middle grade girls' enthusiasm for and confidence in learning mathematics, using computer technology.

Using real data sets pulled from public, Internet-based databases, girls will work with a variety of common and state-of-the art computer applications to co-construct mathematics-based solutions to problems in their own urban environment. Girls will explore patterns and functions, spatial reasoning, and probability and statistics by applying these concepts to such social problems in their own Raleigh-Durham area as the shortage of public schools and low-income housing, increased pollution and deforestation, insufficient mass transit systems, and shortage of qualified persons for the many mathematics-related technician and professional careers in the Research Triangle.

In consultation with guidance counselors, girls will also develop trajectories of their own careers, as well as explore past and present trends in gender and minority representation in SEM fields. During annual Summer Academies, teachers and guidance counselors will use action research to refine these rigorous computer-based mathematics explorations. Other activities for girls include pairing with Math Mentors; tutoring by pre-service teachers; meetings with counselors; accompanying Mentors on "Take Your Daughter to Work Day"; team competitions on Sonya Kovalevsky Day; and an Annual Awards Banquet.

Project partners include NC State University's Center for Research in Math and Science Education and Departments of Math Education, Computer Science, and Counselor Education; Meredith, a private women's college with a strong Math Mentoring Program affiliated with local industry; Wake Co. Public Schools, with a rapidly growing student population of 85,000; and the NC Department of Public Instruction. Additional contributors include IBM, the Math Association of America, and the many other corporations in nearby Research Triangle Park that sponsor the Math Mentoring component through the staff time of their female scientists and mathematicians.

Interactive math lessons and girls' portfolios and presentations on women and minorities in SEM careers will be made publicly available by the NC State Computer Science department via Internet sites, and linked to LEARN-NC, the centralized web site for the NC Standard Course of Study. Selected activities will be incorporated into the NC Mathematics and Science Education Network's annual statewide pre-college programs, while project results will be disseminated at professional conferences and in peer-reviewed journals.