As women continue to be underrepresented in these increasingly important fields, parents and educators are left to wonder: Is something happening at school to turn girls off to computer science? After all, girls are hardly computer-phobic. Those above the age of seven spend about the same time on computers every day as do boys, according to a study by the Kaiser Foundation. And they have performed about as well as boys in the math and science portions of the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Yet something turns them off to technology when it comes time to go to college.

That something, say some researchers, has to do more with techno-culture - that is, what's available to girls and how it's emphasized - than with technology itself. According to the AAUW report, titled "Tech Savvy: Educating Girls in the New Computer Age," girls are often bored by the way technology is presented. Margaret Riel, associate director of the Center for Collaborative Research in Education at the University of California at Irvine, suggests that including digital technology in a broad range of classes, not just science and math, would attract more girls to the field. Writing in the book The Digital Classroom, Riel notes that recent research indicates that girls like to use multimedia technology for constructive, as well as analytic, purposes. She suggests finding ways of incorporating digital technology into English and art classes as one way of perhaps appealing to girls.

And what about computer games? Experts point out that games are an important steppingstone for kids into the world of technology. Students who play computer games tend to be more comfortable with the technology and more adept at using it. Unfortunately, most games are made with boys in mind, involving high-speed chases or to-the-death battles. Girls like problem-solving games that require strategy and skill - just like boys - but they prefer those that have life-like characters and real-world situations. In addition they seem to be more interested in process than progress - in exploration rather than simply racking up points. Yet the computer-games industry that consists mainly of men offers relatively few quality games for girls. (Calling all entrepreneurs!)

One increasingly popular solution to this gender divide is single-sex technology education, which the AAUW endorses. Advocates of this approach point to studies that show that boys usually dominate discussions in science and technology classrooms. Single-sex schools or classes may give girls an opportunity to get up to speed on technology in a favorable, less stressful environment. Computer scientist Maria Klawe, a dean and professor at the University of British Columbia, has worked with Vancouver schools on this issue.She told the Harvard Education Letter: "When we established separate computer times for boys and girls, the girls were much more enthusiastic. It made them feel like they were supposed to be there."

As new technologies continue to become essential tools in business, community, homes, and schools, we need to do all we can to ensure that girls have equal opportunities to learn and master computer skills, and, eventually, to achieve equality in information technology industries.Although together we've made great progress in the last five years in narrowing certain aspects of the digital divide, we can't afford to rest until each - including the gender divide - is closed.

David T. Gordon is editor of the Harvard Education Letter (www.edletter.org) and its book The Digital Classroom: How Technology is Changing the Way We Teach and Learn. Gordon has taught writing in Emerson College's School of the Arts in Boston and served as a staff editor for Newsweek, where he wrote about foreign affairs, culture, and education. He can be reached at editor@edletter.org