By Anne Janzer
Thirty years ago, 37% of computer scientists were women. Today, it’s only 24%. The biggest drop off of girls in computer science is between the ages of 13 and 17. That’s where Girls Who Code can help.
Girls Who Code is an international organization dedicated to teaching girls not only the language and skills of coding, but about finding their confidence, learning teamwork and the drive to succeed. Girls and non-binary youth are invited to get together and learn coding skills while having fun, challenging themselves and developing friendships.
The Scotts Valley branch of Girls Who Code was founded by Claire, a local high school senior. Claire belongs to a coding club at her school and is the only girl. She wanted to share the joy of coding with other girls and applied to start a local chapter of Girls Who Code. Happily, her club found a home at the Scotts Valley Library.
We met with some of the coders at an October meeting at our library. Girls were working collaboratively using Scratch, a fun programming language designed for creating interactive stories, games, and animations.
Coach Claire planned the lesson, led the activities and worked one-on-one to support each girl’s goals. The club members learned to create personal “if-then-else” statements and “while loops,” using them to help reprogram their mindset, concentrating on positive outcomes. Then they began to build mini coding projects on the Scratch platform, utilizing these new coding skills.
When the session ended, no one wanted to leave, the sign of a highly engaged group.
Currently, the Scotts Valley branch of Girls Who Code has eight members and is open to students in grades 3 through 12. The club meets the first and third Thursday of every month in the Fireside Room at the Scotts Valley Library from 4pm to 5pm. The next meeting is November 20. Click for more information about our local club, and here for information about Girls Who Code.
Anne Janzer is a member of the Scotts Valley Library Friends.