In Laura Reeve's structural engineering class, seventh graders build bridges, design roller coasters and create "Newton scooters."
In Diana Reed's computer science class, sixth graders create Web pages using HTML and eighth graders write programs in Java.
Engineering and computer science are core parts of the curriculum at the Girls' Middle School in Mountain View, Calif.
In this unique environment, classes are fun, not daunting, and careers like engineering don't seem beyond girls' reach, said the school's founder, Kathleen Bennett.
But while many GMS students graduate with skills to prepare them for advanced math, science and computing courses, other middle-school-age girls often tend to lose interest in these subjects.
Girls are catching up to boys in basic math and science courses. In fact, girls are enrolling in most of those courses at higher rates than boys at the middle school and high school level, according to a new statewide study by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC).
The study found that girls outnumber boys in college-preparatory math, physical science and life science courses.
"This is a real shift from 30 years ago," said Anne Danenberg, who wrote the report. "Girls are either on par with boys (in basic math and science courses) or out-participating them."
Gender gaps have narrowed nationally in some areas since the 1970s, when two key pieces of federal legislation, Title IX and the Women's Educational Equity Act, were enacted to address gender inequality in education.
But while girls' enrollment exceeds that of boys in almost every core subject area, they still lag behind in physics and computer science, as well as AP calculus and chemistry, the report said.
"Girls are being encouraged to go into math and science in the same ways as boys," said Cynthia Lanius, director of GirlTECH, a teacher-training program that encourages girls to pursue their interests in technology and science.
But so far, the gender gap in computer science courses hasn't been addressed as a national problem, she said.
"The problem has really heightened (in computer science courses). We're just getting to the point, nationally, where we're saying that this is not OK."
Others agree that gender gaps persist beyond enrollment in core courses.
"What you really have to look at is what happens beyond those basics," Bennett said. "What you have to look at is, when kids get a choice, what are they choosing?"
The widest gap is in computer science, where there are 43 percent fewer girls in college-preparatory classes and 72 percent fewer in AP courses.
That's troubling, experts say, because those are the types of classes that typically lead to higher-paying jobs and are typically viewed as important in today's information-age economy. Although the gender gap in computer use is narrowing, men continue to dominate engineering and technology fields.
"Clearly, students who have taken more computer science courses initially have a better foundation for the field," Danenberg said. "Men and women are using computers at very close to equal rates, but men are taking courses to give them a foundation to create the technology."
So why is there still a lag in computer science?
"That's the $64 million question," Danenberg said.
Whether girls are actively discouraged to join a male-dominated field or simply prefer to study other subject areas like foreign language is unclear.
What is clear is that the precursors for those patterns are already in place by eighth grade -- halfway through a typical college graduate's career, the study said.
While girls outnumbered boys in math and science at the middle school level, 18 percent fewer girls enrolled in computer courses, the study found.
Girls often tend to lower their career expectations and decide they're not as interested in technical subjects, which may be considered "unfeminine," at the middle school level, Bennett said.
"The difference seems to happen in those three critical middle school years," Bennett said.
The Girls' Middle School uses a project-based, single-sex environment to engage girls in technical subjects.
"When you only have girls, that's already a great boon," Bennett said.
But while some believe that a single-sex education may be one way to address girls' needs, others seek a broader solution.
Teachers need to actively encourage girls to pursue advanced computing courses, Lanius said. But they also need to make computing courses more engaging and more inclusive to both boys and girls, she said.
Researchers hope that policy-makers will recognize and address gender gaps in computer science just as they have with basic math and science courses.
"If we can give the same attention, the same focus to high level computing courses, then we can have the same level of results," Lanius said.
