_________________________________________________________________________________________Those science, mathematics, and engineering faculty who are serious about making the education they offer as available to their daughters as to their sons are, we posit, facing the prospect of dismantling a large part of its traditional pedagogical structure, along with the assumptions and practice which support it. [Seymour and Hewett 1997].Prior research indicates that female students can be concerned about the insularity of working alone for long periods of time, as they perceive to be the case with computer science and information technology careers. We studied an advanced undergraduate software engineering course at North Carolina State University to characterize the potential of collaborative learning environments created via pair-programming and agile software development to ameliorate this concern. A collective case study of three representative women in the course revealed that they held the following four themes in common: working with others; productivity; confidence; and interest in IT careers. Three conjectures concerning collaboration emerged from our study, including the importance of face-to-face meetings, an increased confidence among women based on product quality, and a reduction in the amount of time spent on assignments. While our findings are not generalized to early undergraduate courses, the young women we studied were at a critical junction in deciding whether to pursue a career in IT upon their near-term graduation. Additionally, we propose a model for future testing with both males and females that connects these three factors with an increased interest in IT careers.

a b s t r a c tWe used a teaching experiment to evaluate the preparation of preservice teachers to teach early algebra concepts in the elementary school with the goal of improving their ability to generalize and justify algebraic rules when using pattern-finding tasks. Nearly all of the elementary preservice teachers generalized explicit rules using symbolic notation but had trouble with justifications early in the experiment. The use of isomorphic tasks promoted their ability to justify their generalizations and to understand the relationship of the coefficient and y-intercept to the models constructed with pattern blocks. Based on critical events in the teaching experiment, we developed a scale to map changes in preservice teachers' understanding. Features of the tasks emerged that contributed to this understanding.

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