Information technology is transforming every field, and few citizens are unaffected by it. The question is no longer whether computers will be in the classroom, but how computers can be used to enhance teaching and learning ideally, in ways that promote the full involvement by girls and other groups currently underrepresented in many computer-related endeavors. The commission s themes and recommendations, while focused on girls in schools, would, if addressed, improve the quality of the computer culture for all students. Key Themes 1.
Girls have reservations about the computer culture and with good reason.
In other words, girls are pointing to important deficits in the technology and the culture in which it is embedded that need to be integrated into our general thinking about computers and education. Indeed, girls critiques resonate with the concerns of a much larger population of reticent users. The commission believes that girls legitimate concerns should focus our attention on changing the software, the way computer science is taught, and the goals we have for using computer technology. Teachers in grades K-12 have concerns and with good reason. Even those teachers technologically savvy enough to respond to the commission s online survey had incisive criticisms of the ways that computer technology has come into the classroom, and of the ways that they are instructed and encouraged to use it.