In this profile, we will meet Dr. Marina Bers, an associate professor at Tufts both in Computer Science and Child Development Departments at Tufts University. She is also a scientific research associate at Boston Children's Hospital. We will learn about how the work she does helps reverse the trend of a decline in female technologists.

This is one profile of many in the Who’s Who in Women in Technology (WiT). The profiles will range from young generations to old, from academic to corporate, from non-for-profit to entrepreneurs – all with one thing in common – they are role models and people who make a positive influence to inspiring girls and women to pursue STEM (Science Technology Engineering & Math) related disciplines and industries.

During the WomenBuildtour last year, we asked men and women across the US: what can large software companies like Microsoft do to help inspire girls and women to become scientists and engineers? We heard many things, one of which was a lack of role models in the STEM disciplines. This series hopes surface the men and women who are making a difference with WiT.

Meet Dr. Marina Bers

In June 2009 I delivered a talk on WomenBuild at a LEGO Symposium at Tufts University, and had an opportunity to meet with Dr. Marina Bers and learn about her WiT (Women In Technology) aligned programs. Dr. Bers directs the Developmental technologies (http://ase.tufts.edu/devtech/) group, working within doctoral students who in turn work young children to teach them computer science concepts at an early age.  

In 2005, Bers was invited to the White House in Washington DC to receive the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers(PECASE), the highest honor given by the U.S. government to outstanding investigators at the early stages of their careers.  Truly, she is the ultimate role model for aspiring female scientists and technologists.

We spoke of the user of LEGO and bricks as learning tools to build tangible programming concepts skills, especially for young females.    She gave me a tour of her research lab, which was comprised of models built in the physical space, which represented the models that we build in the computer science space.

Software design and architecture is sometimes hard to visualize or imagine. If you aren’t a developer, can you picture an object model? Probably not.  With the teachings of Dr. Bers, hopefully this will change and people can visualize object models, just like they can visualize the double helix of DNA.  Dr. Bers makes modeling accessible by using physical componentized tools, such as LEGO bricks to allow children to touch, imagine and build.  The skills they learn here are exactly the skills they will need for a career in software development or engineering.

Why is she a Women in Technology influential?

Dr. Bers focuses on teaching young children programming concepts using tools and toys that are comfortable and familiar to children. She has developed a programs called Tangible Kindergarten, that enables children to learn programming concepts, such as sequencing, by using wooden blocks marked with LEGO Mindstorm-esque visual symbols that cue for movement by a sensor. If you look at the blocks, this is exactly the model for teaching sequential instructional programming.

Unifying the Physical & Virtual Worlds for Learning

Consider a bit of pseudo code that maps to these blocks:

The simple instructions given on the block map respectively to BASIC and .NET code. For example, Begin is analogous to the CLS command in DOS or BASIC, which means Clear Screen.  In ASP.NET, every web page is created with a Page_Init event, just like the simple Begin. In fact each of these commands in the blocks completely relate to object oriented concepts!

1. Begin  CLS / Clear Screen / Page_Init / Initialize
2. Shake Fire Event (Shake )
3. Music BEEP / myMultiMedia.Start / myMusic.Play
4. Forward  GOTO / Call MySubRoutine / result = MyFunction

There is a synergy between her programming learning mechanisms to help children learn .NET as a potential development platform. These concepts certainly can go beyond professors teachers and can be easily introduced as learning tools for parents in professional world. Dr. Bers has also been an avid proponent of the virtual world community (from way back in 1997 during the ActiveWorld era), again yet another way Dr. Bers is combining the virtual world with the physical. 

So what does this mean for you?

I spent some time in my office (ahem) to read Dr. Ber’s book and there is something in it for both teacher, parent as well as professionals interested in developing new talent.  If you personally know of any children, especially females, who have a proclivity towards STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) disciplines, programs such as Dr. Bers can hep develop those innate talents into skills that the child can use in the professional world. LEGO products, such as WeDo and Mindstorms, can help facilitate those learnings in a fun way.  Read Dr. Ber’s book, Block to Robots to learn more about how you can work with your local faculty or even teach a a parent, to help bring technology concepts to early childhood in a fun, engaging and interactive way. 

And for those of you who are looking to study or pursue a career in STEM, know that there are people like Dr.Bers who combine imagination and science, to make a difference in the world. You can too!

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