Talking Points – Information About IT Careers
A friend forwarded the following announcement to me the other day. This is a really good resource for high school and middle school students about careers in Information Technology. It’s aimed at girls so don’t tell anyone but I am showing it to boys as well.
Check out new Talking Points resource, a collaboration of the NCWIT K-12 Alliance and NCWIT social scientists. The web site is the "for more information" site, while the actual resource (see the downloadable pdf on the page) is intended to be printed as a 2-sided 5.5" x 8.5" card and given to parents, counselors, teachers, Girl Scout leaders, and other adults who influence girls. The ideas and images embedded in the card are based in research about both the primary and secondary audiences (adults and girls, respectively).
This includes: what parents care about for their children, their possible misconceptions about IT careers, and their priorities for daughters' happiness as adults; and research on girls: their career intentions at both middle and high school ages and wisdom about what they need to do now to prepare for successful admission to a relevant program at the undergraduate level (for both middle and high schoolers).
If nothing else, print out a couple of copies of the PDF and give them to guidance counselors. Or leave them lying around where smart students can pick them up. Go for it!
