Here it is 2015, and there still aren’t that many women with careers in software engineering or development. Take a look at the Women in Software Engineering Stats spreadsheet put together by Tracy Chou, a programmer at Pinterest, and you’ll see what we mean.
But there is a movement to make those numbers grow in the near future. According to GeekWire “Seattle-based Code.org has teamed up with Disney to create a new tutorial that features Anna and Elsa from Frozen. Entitled “Artist with Anna and Elsa,” the tutorial introduces students to basic coding concepts like loops and conditionals, with appearances from the leading women in Disney’s blockbuster animated feature.”
The aim is to make coding a friendly learning experience for all children, especially girls.
According to USA Today “The tutorial, at www.code.org/frozen, becomes part of the non-profit Code.org’s online learning platform, which is used in more than 50,000 classrooms. The Frozen tutorial will also kick off the ‘Hour of Code’ campaign, an initiative designed to widen participation in computer science worldwide, especially among girls.”
It will be interesting to revisit the statistics in upcoming years to see if the project will ignite engineering careers for today’s female students.
Let it code, girls!
Want to try it yourself? Visit: http://www.code.org/frozen
Take a look at the Frozen Hour of Code.org introduction:
Reblogged this on Mindfire Technology and commented:
In your opinion, should young girls be taught programming at an earlier age?
Yes! I do think if they show interest at an early age, they should have opportunities to do so.