"The Geek Myth" By: Katie A. Siek, Kay Connelly, Amanda Stephano, Suzanne Menzel, Jackie Bauer, and Beth Pace

"The Geek Myth" is an article written by many women who are involved in Computer Science. In the beginning of their article they asked women who work in the Computer Science field what they thought about computers when they were younger. Most of their responses were that it was for geeks and they didn't think it was that useful. According to many researches done the interest in computer science was dramatically declining especially in women. Because of this statistic many women who understand the importance of Computer Science have decided to do what they can to stimulate young students interest in this field. They created an interactive presentation called "Just Be" to get students excited about computers. They go to school and give the students a test with picture of various people on them and they have to guess what their careers are. Most students would guess people who with computers were the ones doing "geeky" activities but they were wrong. By doing this they hoped to break the sterotype that people in the computer science field were geeks. They also let the students work with technology to get them excited about it. Overall they had great response from the students and believe that it will help get people to join the Computer Science field.

Q1: What does this program mean to me as a future teacher?

If I ever go to a school who does not have "Just Be" come to their school I may suggest that they do. I think it is important to expose young students to many careers early on so that they have a goal to work towards.

Q2: What can I do individually to stop the Geek Myth?

Many young students want to go into careers like firefighting and television because they are "cool" careers. Many times careers that are in demand like computer science are overlooked. I as a future teacher want my students to be successful and would love to see some of them interested in careers like these. However, there is the myth that many of the in demand careers are "geeky". I would in my class give out a test similar to the "Just Be" test to show them that no career is "geeky". I would go over many career types in class to expose them to it and hopefully get them interested in something that they can work towards because I believe a student who knows what they want to do and where they are going are going to be more successful in the classroom.