Computers in Everyday Life Interest Project Award
For Girl Scouts 11-17

The first computers were so large that they would not have fit into your house and were certainly not available to the average person.

Nowadays computers fit on your desk, in your bookbag, or in the palm of your hand. They can be found at school, in libraries, and at most places of work and play. This project will introduce you to everyday functions of using the family PC as well as computers at school, at work, and in the community.

You must do at least seven activities to earn this Interest Project award.

Skill Builders (complete at least two)

• Find out about personal computers and their capabilities. Visit a computer store or consult computer magazines. Investigate the hardware required to run today's software and to gain access to the Internet. Compare costs and add-on capabilities, including CD-ROMS, faxing, and audio and multimedia capabilities.

• Learn how to use a word processing program. Become proficient in formatting, editing, spell-checking, cutting and pasting, inserting page numbers or symbols, and creating columns and boxes. Be able to take shortcuts by customizing the toolbars. Write a paper for school, publish the minutes of your troop or group meeting, or design a flier using this program. Or if you already know how to do the above, select a software program that allows you to do something totally new. Apply the program to an activity: for example, redesigning your bedroom, creating party invitations, or keeping track of a month-long project.

• Learn to use a desktop publishing software package that allows you to create a newsletter or informational brochure for your troop or group.

• Learn to use a software program that allows you to create spreadsheets. Master basic functions such as formatting and editing a worksheet, entering and organizing data, using formulas, and creating a chart or graph from your data. Use the spreadsheet to keep a personal or family budget for a month, to keep records of an event's income and expenditures, or to keep track of your troop or group finances. Or try a personal finance software package for a personal or family budget.

• Play three or four computer games, or visit an Internet or Web site that previews computer games, trivia, or murder mystery contests. What games appeal to you? Why? Discuss with others some concerns about playing these games, such as violence or sexist stereotypes.

• Find out about at least two computer applications that enhance the lives of people with disabilities.

 

Our Mission Statement:

Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place.

Technology (do at least one)

• Read reviews of hardware, software, and Web sites in at least two magazines that address products and applications for home computer use. Interview at least three or four computer users of different ages and find out what they look for in these products. Develop your own checklist of criteria and share it in a meeting of your troop or group or at your school.

• How many times is your life affected by the computer? Keep a log for yourself covering a week, noting all the times your life is touched by a computer. Share this log with others, perhaps in a discussion group.

• What amazing things are happening in the movies now? Compare early special effects in the motion picture industry with the computer-assisted effects possible today. Find out about the costs and the advantages of using computer graphics. Host a video night for friends and show movies enhanced by computer effects, or arrange to go with a group to one such movie.

• Find out how computer technology has changed common household appliances (for example, ovens and clothes dryers). What are the advantages and drawbacks?

• Investigate how information is stored on credit cards, medical emergency cards, and other kinds of cards. Find out about protecting against criminal use of this information.

Service Projects (do at least one)

• Work to help set up a computer, modem, and online service for a community in your area. Assist in teaching residents how to use the online services. For instance, show them how to use email.

• Set up a directory of community resources, scan a photo collection onto a computer, organize a recipe collection, or develop some other computer application for your own family, someone else's, or a service organization.

• Use a computer to produce an informational brochure or newsletter for a community organization, or your troop or group.

• Design a flier for families on Internet and World Wide Web use, including safety and "netiquette" tips and a list of great Web sites for family exploration. Share your flier with your council, school, or community group.

• Set up a neighborhood software library or computer game exchange.

Career Exploration (do at least one)

• Compile a directory of Web sites that contain information about careers. Create some major categories, such as technology, medicine, law, and education. Share your directory with friends.

• Investigate careers that are possible from the home with a computer, technical support, and access to online resources. Interview at least two people who work at home (at least 50 % of the time) and use a computer. What are the advantages/ disadvantages of working at home for them? What special hardware and software do they use, if any?

• Investigate a computer-related related career: computer salesperson, computer programmer, software developer, graphic designer, computer analyst, systems developer, systems programmer. Arrange to interview at least two professionals in person or online.

• Identify three types of businesses or industries which, while not computer-based, rely heavily on computers for documentation, data collection, or production. Create a means of sharing your findings.

• Find out how your school, Girl Scout council, or another community group creates fliers, newsletters, brochures, and invitations. Who does what, such as editing, design, production, and circulation? Assist in some stage of the creation of a flier, a newsletter, a brochure, or an invitation.