As part of its “Hour of Code” event, Code.org is teaming up with Disney to attract more girls to computer programming using Frozen ’s Elsa and Anna characters. The introductory tutorial allows students to create code that instructs Elsa and Anna to draw snowflakes and ice fractals. As an added bonus, the students learn geometry and basic logic skills throughout the tutorial.
This year marks the second annual “Hour of Code,” a week-long event that encourages educators to teach coding in the classrooms while exposing a more diverse student population to computer science. The event, which will occur from Dec. 8 to Dec. 14, is expected to attract more than 100 million students through the new game-like tutorial featuring the princesses.
Code.org is a non-profit organization supported by high-profile tech personas such as Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. The group aims to better prepare the U.S. workforce for an increasing need for computer programmers through exposing children to code. It is estimated that U.S. universities won’t be able to fill even a third of the country’s projected 1.4 million computing positions with qualified graduates by 2020. And the numbers look even bleaker for women, who now make up more than half of the U.S. labor force. Less than 18 percent of computer science degrees are awarded to females, and only 20 percent of all U.S. software developers are women. At this time, nine out of 10 schools in the U.S. do not offer computer science classes.
Hadi Partovi, co-founder of Code.org, blames part of the problem on the fact that most female students are not exposed to coding until they have reached high school or even college, and by then, many have the perception that men are better equipped for careers in computing careers. “The only way to change that is to get girls involved at a younger age. By the time they’re in high school, they have stereotypes telling them whether they can or should get involved in computer programming,” Partovi said.
He added, “Girls love Anna and Elsa, and especially young girls who don’t think of themselves as potentially being software engineers or getting involved with computer programming. This is a great way to bring it to the mainstream.”
And this type of “exposure” seems to be producing results. Since last year, approximately 47 million students have tried the “Hour of Code,” and Code Studio, a teaching platform offered by Code.org, is now being used in 50,000 classrooms where nearly 50 percent of those students are girls.
Via Time
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