The process that i have taken in my literature review can be charted by my notes and my outline. This year i am working to improve my actions and practice in a technology club that i founded at an elementary school three years ago. The club was started at the principal's behest: work with a smart and talented fourth grade student who was at times rebellious and felt little challenge in his school work or engagement with his peers. The club started as a technology troubleshooting club that sought to help with computer issues in the classroom. Over the past three years the club has evolved as the participants have changed their interests and desires as to what they wish to do with technology. Presently i would characterize tech club as being a multimedia club where students produce a variety of works in various digital forms, ranging from powerpoint presentations gone crazy to musical compositions, photography, and even film making.

While girls have participated in various important ways over the years, they lack a defining presence in the club and its culture. The work contributed by girls over the years has been fundamentally different than that of the boys. While a group of boys worked to enhance and expand their skills three years ago in our first efforts at a stop motion film, a girl wrote the dialogue that brought cohesive narrative to the piece. Another girl enjoyed working on the sets for the same film, painstakingly building them from construction paper and glue, but she was not as engaged by the stop motion film making or editing the film on the computer.

Activities in the tech club have always had a heavy emphasis on the technology side of the activities and the projects emphasize this focus: building a digital picture frame shooting a stop motion film filming documentary movies with teachers. Joan hanor believes it is important to include viewpoints from women, honor and attend to the voices of girls, and to examine the meaning girls make through their computer use 1998. What modifications might be made to the way tech club operates and the kinds of activities that we take part in to better suit girls? additionally, there is an autism spectrum program at my school. Some of the students in that program are particularly interested in technology, yet have a difficult time interacting with other students in social settings. These students have demonstrated proficiency and capability with computers that belies their age. One student in particular has used powerpoint, imovie, and garageband to great effect.

Bhargava, kirova petrova, and mcnair find that academically, females do as well as males in technology classes but males spend more of their time after school playing with computers and male enrollment in computer science courses in college are higher 19. Females seek aesthetic experiences in their computer use, which is also a means of establishing and cultivating relationships. Elementary school age girls place high value on their teachers' reactions to their work done on the computer and the teachers' reactions can be a determining factor as to whether the girls feel their work is met with respect and consideration hanor, 1998. The opportunity to work with computers may be limited for girls because of prejudices of society that are communicated in subtle and blatant ways by the actions of parents, adults, and the mass media suggesting to girls that computers are not for them bhargava et al.

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According to bhargava, kirova petrova, and mcnair girls in general view computers and technology as being beyond their capabilities and realm of understanding 19. Therefore, it is important, especially at this young age, to work against such stereotypes and assertions and to create an environment where girls are comfortable using technology and are able to develop and refine their skills. Traditionally, there has been a lack of support offered to girls and women who want to learn about and use computers bhargava et al. Hanor likens this to a young girl's lack of empowerment to participate in the decisions that would effect positive change in her life, a lack of respect for her contributions to the community life of the classroom 1998. Computers are not used across the curriculum but rather in ways that only interest boys bhargava et al.

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Furthermore, boys dominate the use of computers while girls tend to be nonassertive in their right to equitable computer time bhargava et al, 19. 19 , citing documented examples where teachers prefer boys to handle the computers, an action that suggests to the girls that they are not needed or are unwanted near computers and have nothing to contribute to the class' understanding or use of the computers. Some suggest that all girl computer clubs or classes might be a solution to this domination by boys kiley hartshorn, who as a student wrote about her experiences in an all girl computer club researching relevant topics of interest to girls, felt the single gender composition of the club was beneficial to the girls. However, dividing students by gender might be unnecessary if one's actions are deliberate. By consciously assigning girls and boys to computer activities and by scheduling computer use to make sure all students have time to use the computer, one might be able to successfully combine boys and girls and expect balanced, fair use of the computers bhargava et al. When hanor examines girls' interactions with computers, she relies on an understanding and interpretation of multiple forms of knowledge that are constructed, embedded, and created in interaction with others hanor, 1998. Girls use the computer as a means of interaction and socializing with other students participating in similar activities.

Activities must be constructed with plenty of chances for students to interact and to use the computer as a go between device to enhance collaboration. Research has found that girls' choices about how they would use a computer changed from the realm of computer/human interaction to the realm of human/human interaction, with the computer as an enabling device hanor, 1998. In fact, the computer itself might seem irrelevant for the girl participating in a technology rich group activity that increases opportunities to develop interpersonal relations. In similar situations, hanor 1998 found that communication became the primary interest in a computer project, with the computers taking a secondary interest among the females. Group projects involving computers should emphasize the participatory aspect of the project over the technology itself in order to best serve females. Aesthetics are an important and overlooked component of technology projects involving girls.

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Aesthetics are connected to interpersonal relationships as well: when girls use computers, interpersonal relations were highly regarded as a factor contributing to their aesthetic enjoyment hanor, 1998. According to hanor, using an aesthetic framework to study girls' interactions with computers builds on research findings about girls' ways of knowing 1998. These different ways of knowing might include tacit, ambiguous, problematic, experiential, and intuitive means hanor, 1998.