Engaging girls with computers through software games

The article focuses on engaging girls with computers through software games Biblioteca de Ciencias y Tecnología Normal Biblioteca de Ciencias y Tecnología 2 0 2006-05-24T20: 25: 00Z 2006-05-24T20: 25: 00Z 1 184 1016 UCLA 8 2 1198 11. 6568 Clean Clean 21 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table. MsoNormalTable mso-style-name: "Tabla normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size: 0; mso-tstyle-colband-size: 0; mso-style-noshow: yes; mso-style-parent: ""; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5. 4pt 0cm 5. 4pt; mso-para-margin: 0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom: . 0001pt; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; font-size: 10. 0pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: #0400; mso-fareast-language: #0400; mso-bidi-language: #0400; The article focuses on engaging girls with computers through software games. Recent report from the ACM Committee on Women in Computing (ACM-W) noted the alarming decrease of women graduating with computer science bachelor degrees. Indeed, the research showed a distressing 24% drop in women pursuing CS degrees over the last decade. Today, a growing concern is that girls are losing interest in computers. The reasons behind this fact are quite complex and are due to the contributions of many societal factors. In this article focus is on computer games because for most girls their first computer experiences are solely through playing software-based games. Creating software games of interest to girls has the potential to bring more girls into computing at early ages, thus increasing the numbers throughout the pipeline. In addition to this positive effect, the game market for girls has tremendous business potential. As the marketplace for computer-based entertainment changes, and as software developers design more content for girls, analysts expect females to spend more money on computers, games, online access, and other technology tools that have traditionally targeted male consumers.