Excite girls for technology - if necessary even with pink glitter
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: How early should children be prepared for the networked world?
Iris Bockermann: I would not commit myself to age. We live in a digital culture. Today, the digital media are literally taken with the breast milk: the baby is breastfed on the breast and the mum is reading on the smartphone. The children can handle this from an early age.
That shapes from the beginning?
Yes. Sentences such as "In kindergarten, my child may not have media contact" misunderstand the fact that even in the family media much and often used.
How do you do it as a parent right?
Parents should talk openly with the children when they are interested in the technology around them and show them what to look for there. This can be done very early - it's only late in primary school to start media education. The children are interested in technology much earlier. They need adults who can accompany, be interested and answer questions.
Then the children come to school with great technical interest - and find there just an older PC in the classroom ...
Yes, schools are poorly equipped - and elementary schools are especially the stepchild. The older computer is often used when the lessons are over, usually for a small game as a reward. As a learning medium, it is rarely used. But more important than the latest technology are good teachers: people who dare to implement new concepts that handle a computer update or a lack of internet as calmly as they do with a lack of chalk.
That's not the case, not even among the younger ones?
No, not to the degree that we need it now. Many young teachers are also very critical of digitization at school and find it difficult to support the task of accompanying children here. With the old model "open your book and edit the worksheet" you can not work there - but that's just the comfort zone for many student teachers, which they know from their school days. This only changes when there are more good digital lessons. Teachers need support and training here.
But are not the reservations against excessive digital orientation justified?
If children say: I do not have to learn that, can I google it? An elementary school teaches many basic skills, and they are not mutually exclusive. When children practice their handwriting for an hour, they usually have enough interest and energy to take care of the next topic.
Is there a difference between girls and boys taking digital education?
Absolutely. Similar to math, we also lose girls early in computer science. Already in elementary school, a gender cliché has set in the minds, the girl brakes out.
What can you do about it?
The presentation is important. At a "Robotic Workshop", only 90% of boys register. But the same technology is a huge hit with girls when it's announced as a "Smart Fashion Workshop".
Robots for boys, fashion for girls - that reinforces the clichés.
We have to pick up the children where they stand, in what interests them. Girls are more diversified, they do not feel attracted by technology workshops, but by smart fashion. And then they will get smart fashion and technology. So they discover for themselves the fun of sensors and microcontrollers and what you can do with it all.
Why is the idea that technology is not for girls so present?
Children are much more defined by their playing worlds today. Even surprise eggs are available in pink with "Nur für Mädchen" imprint - there we went. Now boys get the space for toys and girls for the household. No good development.
And yet, the workshops you suggest are in the same vein ...
If the result is to inspire girls for the supposedly young theme, I do not care if the way there is paved with pink glitter. I just want to reach the girls! I want to show that technology is exciting, what the girls in the field can do and how important they are there. Technology is shaped by who develops it. Therefore, the female point of view should be stronger from the start. If there are no points of contact for girls, how should they discover that programming and designing technology can be fun and that they can learn it? How can enthusiasm or even a career aspiration arise? It is fatal to leave such an important field as shaping the digital future to the young. A good teacher can give orientation and encourage girls and boys to develop their potential.
Man remains more important than the machine?
Clear. School is and remains the dialogue between student and teacher - whether with digital support or classic at the blackboard.
