Project-Based Learning

Closing R
ecently I read the book
Ghosts in the Machine:

the Gender
Women’s Voices in Research
with Technology, and I was drawn
into thinking about the well-known

Gap gender gap in the use of technology.

I hadn’t looked at gender in tech-
nology use very closely in several
years because in my own research,
I had observed that girls like to use
the new multimedia tools just as well
as boys. (For more, see my research
report at http://www.iste.org/jrte/28/
5/mcgrath/article/.) However, I was
reminded by Ghosts that technology
is still a highly gendered field, and I
began to think again about how we
could set up learning environments
Girls, Technological to help encourage girls to explore
these fields of study and work. I de-
Fluency, and PBL cided it was time to review the latest
research about girls and technology
in the classroom setting, particularly
when they are involved in project-
based learning (PBL). This month,
I focus my column on technology
fluency and gender equity: how do
girls fare when using technology in
a PBL environment?

PBL and Fluency with

Information Technology
National Research Council
(NRC). (1999). Being fluent
with information technology.
Washington, DC: National
Academy Press. Available:
By Diane McGrath http://www.nap.edu/books/
030906399X/html/R1.html
Subject: Gender equity
The NRC’s goal of fluency with in-
Audience: Teachers, teacher formation technology goes beyond the
educators, staff developers older notion of computer literacy. The
NRC report focuses on the combina-
Grade Level: K–12 (Ages 5–18) tion of contemporary skills, founda-
tional concepts, and intellectual capa-
Standards: NETS•S 2; NETS•T II, III, bilities, not just on the skills of word
VI (http://www.iste.org/standards/)
processing and using spreadsheets.

28 Learning & Leading with Technology Volume 31 Number 6

Copyright © 2004, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education), 1.800.336.5191 (U.S. & Canada) or 1.541.302.3777 (Int’l), iste@iste.org, www.iste.org. All rights reserved.
 Project-Based Learning

A focus on skills alone does not pre- Well! What does this tell us? Our In the next sections, I share find-
pare students for the swift changes in students need to become more deeply ings from two studies about girls and
technology; students need a deeper involved with technology to enhance project-based teaching and learning.
understanding, they need to “express their understanding of what they are
themselves creatively, to reformulate learning as well as to open doors to PBL, Girls, and Math
knowledge, and to synthesize new in- higher education and to job possibili- J. Boaler. (2002). Paying the
formation.” The NRC summary lists ties. How is this best accomplished? price for “sugar and spice”—
things students need to learn to do: PBL! What’s more, the next report Shifting the analytical lens in
• Engage in sustained reasoning shows us that PBL has particular sig- equity research. Mathematical
• Manage complexity nificance for girls and technology. Thinking & Learning, 4(2/3),
• Test a solution 127–144.
• Manage problems in faulty Girls and Technology
Jo Boaler has done a good deal of re-
solutions American Association of Uni-
search on involving girls more deeply
• Organize and navigate information versity Women (AAUW).
in mathematics. She summarizes her
structures and evaluate information (2000). Tech-savvy: Educating
findings from a previous important
• Collaborate girls in the new computer age.
study:
• Communicate to other audiences Washington, DC: Author. Ex-
ecutive summary available: I monitored a cohort of stu-
Does this begin to sound familiar?
http://www.aauw.org/research/ dents in each of the 2 schools
Here’s more:
girls_education/techsavvy.cfm over a three-year period, from
Because FITness [fluency with when they were 13 to when
The AAUW Report found, not sur-
information technology] is fun- they were 16. The two schools
prisingly, that girls do not like the taught mathematics in com-
damentally integrative, calling
computer game culture or the nar- pletely different ways. At 13,
upon an individual to coordi-
row and technical focus of computer before the students embarked
nate information and skills with
science. Instead, they end up taking on their different mathematical
respect to multiple dimensions
applications courses and generally pathways, there were no signifi-
of a problem and to make over-
all judgments and decisions disapprove of what they see as the cant differences in mathematical
taking all such information into machine focus of boys. As a result attainment of the two cohorts
account, a project-based approach of this attitude, they do not experi- and there were no recorded gen-
to developing FITness is most ap- ence the tinkering (bricolage) with der differences at either school.
propriate. [italics mine] Projects programs that boys experience, an Three years later the girls who
of appropriate scale and scope interest and a skill that better prepares attended the school that I have
inherently involve multiple it- people for designing software, not called Amber Hill, that fol-
erations, each of which provides just using it. The AAUW commission lowed a traditional, procedural
an opportunity for an instruc- recommendations for involving girls approach, attained significantly
tional checkpoint or interven- more in technology include encourag- lower mathematics grades on
tion. The domain of a project ing tinkering for artistic and creative the national examination than
can be tailored to an individual’s work, use of the computer across the the boys at their school. In the
interest … thereby providing curriculum (not just in computer other school that I have called
motivation for a person to ex- science or applications classes), and Phoenix Park, where an open-
pend the (non-trivial) effort to “respecting multiple points of entry” ended, project based approach
master the concepts and skills into the field of technology. In addi- was employed, [italics mine]
of FITness. In addition, a proj- tion, they direct our attention to the there were no gender differences
ect of appropriate scope will be NRC’s work on technological fluency between girls and boys at any
sufficiently complex that intel- and echo the NRC’s call for PBL as level, and the students attained
lectual integration is necessary a means to accomplish technological significantly higher grades than
to complete it. fluency. the students at the more proce-

March 2004 Learning & Leading with Technology 29

Copyright © 2004, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education), 1.800.336.5191 (U.S. & Canada) or 1.541.302.3777 (Int’l), iste@iste.org, www.iste.org. All rights reserved.
Project-Based Learning
dural school. In questionnaires matter, the researchers looked at how
given to the students each year girls and boys worked in teams over
that asked them about their a 10-week project. They anticipated
confidence and enjoyment, the that these mixed groups would be a
boys at the two schools did not problem for girls at first but that these
respond significantly differently. problems would gradually go away.
But the girls at the project-based To begin, fifth and sixth graders
school, Phoenix Park, were al- were teamed to design an astronomy
ways significantly more positive project using MicroWorlds. Their
and confident than the girls fol- completed project was to be suitable
lowing a procedural approach at for teaching astronomy to younger
Amber Hill. students.
Thank You! Boaler goes on to say that girls at
The researchers wanted to look
at the participation of girls and boys
both schools “sought a deep, concep-
in the different levels of activity that
ISTE members are wonderful tual understanding of mathematics,
a project of this type required. They
and generous. The L&L and those taught by teachers who
grouped the activities into three types:
staff would like to especially encouraged the exploration of math-
thank the members who ematical ideas were able to achieve • Traditional activities: researching
volunteered time from their this goal.” She concluded that the the topic in books, drawing on
busy NECC 2003 schedules problem with girls and mathemat- paper, writing progress reports
to meet with us. Look for ics was not primarily a problem girls • Constancy activities: using technol-
members like this month’s have with the field of math, but in ogy but not going very deeply into
subject, Mike Barton, in the
fact a problem they have with the it, for example, researching the
traditional method of teaching math. topic on a CD-ROM encyclopedia,
new member profile section
By extension, I would expect that this word processing, watching others
each issue on p. 46.
would prove the same for science and work in MicroWorlds
technology, other subjects girls tradi- • Enriching activities: developing
We’d also like
tionally avoid. Learning environments technological fluency, for example,
to express that promote the sort of connected- actually doing the programming in
our gratitude ness in understanding shown in Phoe- MicroWorlds, researching the topic
to ISTE 100 nix Park are likely to deeply involve on the Internet, leading demonstra-
member Intel girls in learning of subject matter they tions of their project, teaching oth-
and its Innovation have hitherto avoided. ers to program
in Education
Early on, boys and girls participated
program for PBL, Girls, and Technology
at about the same level in constancy
providing Intel C. C. Ching, Y. B. Kafai, &
activities, girls did more traditional
digital microscopes as S. K. Marshall. (2003). “I al-
activities than boys, and girls did
gifts for the participants. ways get stuck with the books”:
fewer enriching activities than boys.
Creating space for girls to
The researchers thought that mid-
If you’d like to be the subject access technology in a software
way through the project, they would
design project. In N. Yelland &
of a member profile next see some changes in participation.
A. Rubin (Eds.), Ghosts in the
year, please contact us at They were in for a surprise. During
machine: Women’s voices in re-
letters@iste.org. the fourth and fifth weeks, the girls
search with technology (pp. 167–
reported that they didn’t feel they had
189). New York: Peter Lang.
access to MicroWorlds, and when
This research takes us one step further they did manage to get access, they
into connecting the ideas of fluency, didn’t accomplish very much. Closer
gender equity, and PBL. In this study, inspection of students working on the
directly related to the deep uses and project indicated that the girls were
understanding of a programming taking time to get up and visit other
environment for studying a subject computers to see what other students

30 Learning & Leading with Technology Volume 31 Number 6

Copyright © 2004, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education), 1.800.336.5191 (U.S. & Canada) or 1.541.302.3777 (Int’l), iste@iste.org, www.iste.org. All rights reserved.
 Project-Based Learning
were doing, share ideas and files, and and boys did many fewer traditional
otherwise collaborate with friends. and constancy activities.
According to the researchers,
Tying It Together
these gender differences did not
Where does this exploration of
remain constant throughout
research on girls, fluency, and PBL
the ten weeks. There is another
leave us?
story to be told here however,
I think we have learned that girls
and that is the story of how
want some things out of their studies
these changes in participation
that we hope all students will want:
took place. The transition …
understanding, to see how things
was neither easy nor spontane-
connect and why they work. Girls
ous; it required significant inter-
want to be able to participate, and
ventions by researchers and the
they want the social, cognitive, and
classroom teacher.
physical space in which to do so.
To solve this problem, the re- They want to have their issues lis-
searchers and teacher made some tened to and addressed. And when
changes in the “spaces” in which the we do these things, when we teach in
children were working; these eventu- a connected way and take into
ally brought about a highly equitable account girls’ need to engage deeply
learning environment for both girls with the subject matter, then girls do
and boys. fine work—even in math and tech-
nology, fields we always thought girls
• Social space. They set up regular
didn’t like.
group meetings, led by the teacher,
I also think Ching, Kafai, and
at which each person would speak
Marshall are right on target when
about issues and problems they had
they conclude that our field is “reach-
in their work, and the whole group
ing a point in gender and technol-
would address each issue. One
ogy research where the issue may no
result: they developed a computer
longer be about if girls are using the
schedule of who would do what
computer but rather how they are us-
when.
ing it.” A good deal more research is
• Physical space. Instead of requiring
needed on the factors that encourage
students to take turns working at a
both girls and boys to accomplish
few stations widely separated from
greater fluency with the technologies
each other in the classroom, they
available to them and to be able to
opened up the lab as well. Girls
use them to benefit their understand-
immediately started going to the
ing of the subjects they are studying.
lab to work without waiting for
the teacher to tell them what to do. Diane McGrath is an associ-
Boys more often stayed at isolated ate professor of educational
stations in the classroom. computing, design, and online
• Cognitive space. In addition to learning at Kansas State Uni-
versity. She is former editor
team notebooks, they initiated in-
of the Journal of Computer
dividual designers’ notebooks for Science Education (now pub-
students to record their own ideas. lished on ISTE’s SIGCS Web site as JCSE On-
The girls often took these to the lab line) and the Journal of Research on Comput-
and worked from them. ing in Education (now the Journal of Research
on Technology in Education), and she has
After eight weeks, the researchers written a number of articles related to technology
found little difference in the level of and higher-order thinking for ISTE periodicals.
participation of girls and boys in the www.iste.org/LL
enriching activities, and both girls

March 2004 Learning & Leading with Technology 31

Copyright © 2004, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education), 1.800.336.5191 (U.S. & Canada) or 1.541.302.3777 (Int’l), iste@iste.org, www.iste.org. All rights reserved.