Australia’s Girl Geek Academy celebrated International Girls in ICT Day recently with the next phase of its world-first coding curriculum targeting girls aged five to eight – #MissMakesCode.
Girl Geek Academy will officially launch the #MissMakesCode teacher training program tomorrow at a sold-out coding workshop taking place in Sydney at Custom’s House. The event, in partnership with leading female film festival, For Films Sake, will see local primary school girls learn to code and build a game in a day.
Girl Geek Academy’s #MissMakesCode is the first initiative in the world created to build confidence and self-efficacy in the areas of algorithmic thinking, programming and coding targeting young girls aged from five to eight. To ensure solid pedagogical approaches are used, #MissMakesCode aligns with the Digital Technologies Curriculum.
Girl Geek Academy is a global movement encouraging women to learn technology, create startups and build more of the internet. The girl-gang work with teachers, schools, corporates and startups to increase the number of woman in the digital and entrepreneurial landscape.
What exactly is #MissMakesCode aimed to achieve?
Created by teachers, for teachers, the #MissMakesCode program is delivered through specialist teacher training bootcamps where primary school teachers, teacher librarians and parents of five to eight year old girls are provided with the framework to deliver these fun and engaging workshops. Educators will learn how to code their own game, just as their students would, followed by practical examples and resources to help them roll the program out in their school.
Girl Geek Academy strongly advocate for the upskilling of teachers in this space to boost their own career trajectory and increase the reach of the workshops – and ultimately, the number of girls pursuing STEAM careers by adding the art and design element to the traditional STEM focus.
Girl Geek Academy CEO, Sarah Moran said: “We’re pumped to announce that #MissMakesCodes is back for another year and we encourage primary teachers across Australia to join us for the upcoming teacher training workshops starting in July or register for our online bootcamps.
“#MissMakesCode is an important initiative in our bid to help increase the numbers of women in future IT careers and diversify IT roles for women. It’s critical that we engage girls in technology from the age of five, so that it can become a native skill like reading and writing. We know that it’s easier to engage girls in technology before they have been exposed to any gender bias, as research shows that from the age of six, girls already have gendered beliefs about intelligence and they’re more likely to avoid games meant for “really, really smart” children,” continued Ms Moran.
What has Girl Geek Academy been up to?
Recently, Girl Geek Academy teamed up with official .au wholesale provide AusRegistry to run a coding workshop at Queen of Peace primary school in Altona Meadows, Melbourne.
Maggie Whitnall, Senior Client Services Manager at AusRegistry said: “Increasing diversity in the technology industry is a cause we’re very passionate about, to ensure we’re creating the best possible workplaces that generate the best possible outcomes by including a true mix of voices and experiences.
“It’s fantastic to mark Girls in ICT Day with such a valuable program as the #MissMakesCode workshop and to see young girls engaging with technology in a fun and creative way. Hopefully it’s inspired some of the coders of tomorrow,” continued Ms Whitnall.
The #MissMakesCode is now open for teacher signups via its website http://missmakescode.com. The first teacher training workshop will take place in Melbourne on 27 July, 2017.
