Build IT (Girls Building Information Technology Fluency Through Design) is a problem-based curriculum for middle school girls that capitalizes on girls’ interest in design and communication technologies to encourage girls to develop their IT fluency, interest in mathematics, and knowledge of IT careers. The curriculum provides girls with the opportunity to experience design challenges and design their own communication technologies. Structured interactions with IT professionals and field trips to organizations show girls the diversity and creativity of IT careers.

Our goals for the Build IT program are to

• motivate middle school girls to use technology and to strengthen and build their technology fluency.
• increase middle school girls’ interest in and desire to take high school algebra and geometry courses in preparation for postsecondary STEM education and/or IT careers.
• increase middle school girls’ interest in IT and pursuing IT careers.

SRI International and Girls Inc. are collaborating to create and implement Build IT in the ALL STARS Middle School program at Oakland and San Leandro school sites during the school year and the Girls Inc. San Leandro facility for the two week summer program. Build IT is supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. ESI-0524762.

For more information on the Build IT program, contact the Middle School Program Manager at (510) 357-5515, ext. 257.

For publications and research on Build IT, please see the SRI website.