CompuGirls: Demonstrating STEM Education Can Be Better
Written by: Dr. Christine O'Donnell
CGEST’s CompuGirls programs were a main draw for me to join CGEST as a Postdoctoral Researcher. My passion is to improve how we teach science by addressing equity in our curricula, pedagogies, and teaching. Speaking from my own experience, science education all too often uses a “deficit model”, assuming success is due to natural talent and failure is due to lack of effort. Additionally, my classes were much more about the competition to be the “best” student rather than forming collaborations, and there was a norm to assimilate into the culture of being “one of the boys'', even if you didn’t identify that way, along with the erasure of all non-dominant intersecting identities.
Based on my experiences, I believe that it’s important to rethink how we teach science, and CompuGirls does just that through their culturally responsive approach with tenets of asset-building, reflection, and connectedness. I was excited for the opportunity to contribute to our CompuGirls Hawaii: Cybersecurity program for Spring 2021 by writing a set of three lessons about cryptography. In my high school computer science classes, I was fascinated by the topic and enjoyed creating computer programs to encrypt and decrypt messages. In a fun twist of fate, this opportunity meant I could go back to those lessons I loved, but take out the deficit model, unnecessary competitiveness, and assimilation. Instead, students will have opportunities to work together to build connections between their own lived experiences and the content of how we encrypt and secure data online, and they’ll engage in conversations about social justice in cybersecurity.
I’m also excited to see our participants interact with our lessons using micro:bits, which are “pocket-sized computers” with a set of LED lights that can display messages and output. Our participants will learn how to use these devices and create a password generator to help secure online accounts. Micro:bits allow us to reinforce how cybersecurity has “tangible” applications - while using computer code to secure data can feel like an abstract activity involving lots of staring at computer screens, at the end of the day, our efforts affect the lives and livelihoods of real people. Cybersecurity protects our online accounts, such as banking, email, and social media, as well as the things we depend on in our daily lives, such as electricity and cell phone connectivity. I hope our curriculum can bridge the gap between the (potentially abstract) content with the applications we all encounter in our daily lives.
I look forward to working together with our Hawaii partners, mentor-teachers, and students in the next few months!
Postdoctoral Research Scholar
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