Article Review #3
Hale,
K. (2002) Gender Differences in Computer Technology Achievement.
Meridian: A Middle School Computer Technology Journal 5(2).
Rationale
I have an interest in gender and technology since
completing curriculum courses 681 and 683.
Both courses had sections examining gender issues and curriculum.
Because of my technology background, I did papers in both courses on the
topic of gender issues in technology curriculum.
I wish I had found this article during my research.
Description
The article begins by explaining the purpose of
the research. Hale, states that
computer technology is commonly identified with math and sciences and because
those areas are playgrounds for gender concern, she wanted to delve deeper into
that area. Of course, being a
self-respecting technology teacher I take exception to her remarks about “math
and science” since I strive to integrate technology into all curriculum areas,
although I do see her point.
The author next details the many research studies
on gender in technology in the past twenty years; apparently it is a booming
research topic. Finally, Hale
describes her study detailing the participants, procedures, study design and
data analysis and the results.
Practicality
This website is clearly presented with headings
and sub-headings that make browsing quite easy.
Hale also included pictures from her study, which puts a personal touch
to the research. I can almost see
my own students in her participants and it makes it feel alot less formal and
alot more relatable.
Although Hale’s results are interesting, it
would be impossible for me to conduct a similar experiment since her
participants followed step-by-step procedures produced by Learning Labs without
teacher instruction. Her results
could have had as much to do with lack of support and interest than gender.
Strengths and Weaknesses
“It is little wonder why girls are not
interested in computer technology,” Hale states in the article.
My experience as a technology teacher has been that girls are equally
excited about technology as boys. In
fact, I see more girls taking chances and playing around with computer
technology outside regular classroom time.
Maybe my experience is an odd one, but I have never noticed or examined
gender in technology in my own school because I have seen and equal balance of
both.
I also found that Hale strayed from the topic of gender and into the arena of cultural differences. Were the variances between gender achievements due to gender or was it cultural issues? It would be much more clear if she stuck to one topic or the other.