Engaging girls with computers through software games

<html xmlns:o=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns=3D"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"> <head> <meta http-equiv=3DContent-Type content=3D"text/html; charset=3Dus-ascii"> <meta name=3DProgId content=3DWord.Document> <meta name=3DGenerator content=3D"Microsoft Word 11"> <meta name=3DOriginator content=3D"Microsoft Word 11"> <link rel=3DFile-List href=3D"The%20article%20focuses%20on%20engaging%20girls%20with%20computers%20thr_archivos/filelist.xml"> The article focuses on engaging girls with computers through software games <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:DocumentProperties> <o:Author>Biblioteca de Ciencias y Tecnología</o:Author> <o:Template>Normal</o:Template> <o:LastAuthor>Biblioteca de Ciencias y Tecnología</o:LastAuthor> <o:Revision>2</o:Revision> <o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime> <o:Created>2006-05-24T20:25:00Z</o:Created> <o:LastSaved>2006-05-24T20:25:00Z</o:LastSaved> <o:Pages>1</o:Pages> <o:Words>184</o:Words> <o:Characters>1016</o:Characters> <o:Company>UCLA</o:Company> <o:Lines>8</o:Lines> <o:Paragraphs>2</o:Paragraphs> <o:CharactersWithSpaces>1198</o:CharactersWithSpaces> <o:Version>11.6568</o:Version> </o:DocumentProperties> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:SpellingState>Clean</w:SpellingState> <w:GrammarState>Clean</w:GrammarState> <w:HyphenationZone>21</w:HyphenationZone> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState=3D"false" LatentStyleCount=3D"156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--> <style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:595.3pt 841.9pt; margin:70.85pt 3.0cm 70.85pt 3.0cm; mso-header-margin:35.4pt; mso-footer-margin:35.4pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style> <!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* 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;} </style> <![endif]--> </head> <body lang=3DES style=3D'tab-interval:35.4pt'> 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.<o:p></o:p> </body> </html>