July 5, 2007

Breaking down stereotypes

Middle school students participate in camp at IBM

By Christina Brown
Times Intern

A “Yes!” of excitement is plainly audible from the group as Tom Zimmerman, employee of IBM and EX.I.T.E. camp instructor, tells the 40 girls around him they will get to use the microscopes they built to observe plankton. It may be summer, but young girls from Fair Junior High and Herman Intermediate School, as well as the daughters of several IBM employees, are taking a week out of their vacations to attend IBM’s EXploring Interests in Technology and Engineering camp at IBM’s Silicon Valley Lab and Almaden Research Center.

“I’m going to die,” Jessica Hernandez squeaks as the blood pressure cuff tightens around her arm during the “Introduction to Electronics” part of EX.I.T.E. girls camp at IBM. Photos by Christina Brown

From June 25 through 29 the girls spent each day at either of the IBM sites working with IBM employees to do hands on projects, observational demonstrations and discussion panels to open the girls’ eyes to the vast possibilities in the science and technology fields. According to a survey by the Society of Women Engineers 75 percent of teen girls do not plan to pursue a career in math, science or technology, and though women make up more than half the world’s population, they hold less than 10 percent of the world’s technology related positions.

Through EX.I.T.E camps, IBM hopes to “inspire middle-school girls to make a difference in the world through math, science and technology,” according to their Web site, and it appears to be working. Of the girls that participated in the camp since its start in 1999, 85 percent left the camp saying they would consider getting a college degree in engineering or another science field.

A Week of discovery
On Monday the girls played team building games to meet the leaders, returning campers who came back to help this year, as well as their peers from other schools. The week’s first scientific discovery involved extracting DNA from the cells of a strawberry and examining it.

Tuesday morning they saw the “Cool Chemistry” demonstration, a favorite for Jennifer Hernandez from IBM’s Corporate and Community Relations who has worked to put on EX.I.T.E. camps for the last four years. “A lot of girls come away from it, and say I want to be a chemist,” said Hernandez. “I’ve seen it ten times, and it never gets old.” The demonstration featured experiments with states of matter, chemical reactions, smoke and fire. Then the girls got to make slime and golden pennies. Samantha Gamet, an eighth grader, enjoyed this part of the camp best and even wants to be a chemical engineer now.

The girls also began the four part project “Build a Microscope,” directed by Zimmerman who led activities last year as well. The project involved disassembling a digital camera and removing the imager chip to create a microscope that does not need focusing. Then a light emitting diode above the imager will illuminate the subject—plankton, in this case—similar to a pin hole camera.

In the afternoon, they learned about density of different liquids, specifically oil and water and then learned how this concept is applied in the clean up of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. The girls also created their own video game by programming their characters to do certain commands, like turning around, flapping their wings or disappearing, when approached by other objects or at the click of a mouse.

On Wednesday, the girls disassembled a PC, a favorite activity for Dominica Burton, ninth grade, and Rheanna Williams, eighth grade. “I like taking things apart,” said Williams, who went to the camp last year and thinks it has gotten even better this year.

John Ho, an advisory engineer at IBM, shows Nohely Izquierdo and Angela Vaccari, eighth graders, how to put together a circuit with a light emitting diode and a resistor.

The next day the girls were introduced to ShapeWriter, a new technology that uses a stylus instead of a keyboard. Then they interacted in the virtual world using avatars, an image online that represents a person. Afterwards the girls went from station to station putting together a basic circuit, getting connected to an EKG and observing what happens to their heart when they jump, and working with a camera that picks up infrared light.

Zimmerman led the last station, which involved clicking a remote control at a camera and then observing that there was a flash of light that showed up on the monitor but was not visible when you looked at the remote control. “My favorite part is seeing the girls go ‘Aha!’” said Zimmerman who let them try to guess why this phenomenon was happening. He handed them the remote and they passed it around try to guess why they were unable to see the light with their own eyes. Only when they ran out ideas did he pull out the Electromagnetic Spectrum chart to explain the difference between visible light and infrared waves.

At lunch the girls got a break from science to sing karaoke. Though they certainly had fun, Zimmerman also found the practical application of such an activity, noticing the self-assurance the girls built up during the activity. “Confidence is important to become a professional. You need to be able to speak in front of a group as a scientist, to be able to stand in front of your peers,” he said.

Afterwards, the girls saw a demonstration by Luisa Bozano and Linda Sundberg, IBM employees, about liquid nitrogen, which is -320°F. The women placed countless objects, from balloons to paper to eggs to ketchup, into the liquid nitrogen and each time before they pulled the object out the girls would shout out what they thought happened to it.

Beyond these five days
IBM’s support for their educational goals is not new to these girls. Scientists from IBM had been coming to their school for many years to work with the students in science classes and also provide the schools with supplies and laptops.

Lisa Martinez, eighth grade, tries putting a rubber band in liquid nitrogen to see the effect during the fourth day of EX.I.T.E. girls camp at IBM.

“The key is awareness,” said Bob Martinez, Outreach Program Manager at IBM. “We hope the rest continues from there.” He hopes of the girls are exposed to opportunities at a young age that will fuel their choices about classes in high school, ultimately determining what options will be available for them after graduation.

Availability of the camp is key to Martinez who made sure that one of the girls who had a disability would be able to participate regardless. He also found an employee to serve as a translator to two of the girls who speak very little English. “Those girls wouldn’t have the opportunity anywhere else,” he said.

Over the course of the week over 100 volunteers helped run the camp, with 32 just to help out with classes. After the camp the girls will also be paired with IBM employees to serve as mentors throughout the school year. MentorPlace is a global program for students to receive academic assistance and career counseling.

Since its inception in New York nine years ago, EX.I.T.E. Camp has shown nearly 7,000 girls the possibilities of a career in math, science and technology. This summer there are 53 camps all over the world—several on every continent save Antarctica—serving girls ages 11 to 13.

The girls’ reactions to the camp were certainly positive. “The camp was a lot of fun,” said Ragini Sharma, an incoming freshman. “I learned a lot about mixing chemicals, how stuff rusts, and the cyberworld, how IBM people communicate. [The best part was] taking a walk around IBM and seeing a rattlesnake.”

Hernandez, whose daughter was able to attend camp this year, was clearly enthusiastic about helping these girls see an career choice most would never have been exposed to. “It’s wonderful to give these girls this opportunity, to open their eyes to see the future of science and technology,” she said, and with more girls entering the field every day, a bright future it has indeed.