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How do I get girls (age 7-12) interested in Scratch and Programming

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4 replies [Last post]
David Lee
Member
June 09, 2015
Hi there,

I teach scratch programming and computational thinking classes to kids of age 7-12. Would like to ask the community at large how and what exactly do you do to get young girls interested in scratch and programming?

Usually, how i approached teaching the kids was to show them examples of games that can be created (e.g. racing games, or 2 person shooting games etc all kid-friendly of course :)). Then I go on to guide them along on how to create their own game variations, and in the process teach them programming and computational thinking concepts. This approach works very well for boys and they are extremely enthusiastic, and pick up quite fast.

However, when I try the same approach for girls, I noticed they do not show much interest in this.

So.... any ideas? How do you motivate young girls to be interested in programming?

Thanks in advance!

David
Replies
Derek Breen
Member
June 13, 2015
I would try the Virtual Pets tutorial built into Scratch (click the Tips button then click "Create a Virtual Pet").  You might also consider introducing them to the Paint Editor tools by assigning a digital collage project.

Here's an example of a basic collage using mostly built-in sprites: 
https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/63404316/

And here's a more advanced collage which blends bitmap and vector tools and techniques as well as a bit of coding:
https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/66989204/

 
David Lee
Member
June 11, 2015
Hello there Vrinda,

Thanks much for your reply. I'll give the animation part a try. I'm also thinking maybe story based projects (like Frozen maybe?) might go well.

I'll give the suggestions a try and let you know the response!

Thanks once again,

Cheers

David
David Lee
Member
June 11, 2015
Hello there Vrinda,

Thanks much for your reply. I'll give the animation part a try. I'm also thinking maybe story based projects (like Frozen maybe?) might go well.

I'll give the suggestions a try and let you know the response!

Thanks once again,

Cheers

David
Tiny Techs Club
Member
June 10, 2015
Hi David,

You can have girls create an animation where there are a lot of costume changes..sort of like playing dress up.

In our classes we also have a section dedicated to the ask-answer commands..girls like that too. We have them setup a conversation between two sprites - say the girl and the grandma!

Hope this helps!

Vrinda