Camp CyberGirls

Abstract

In this paper we report on the design and results of a one-week, residential summer camp experience that introduced computing concepts to middle school girls in the context of an online, multiplayer, virtual world known as the Curiosity Grid. In contrast to programming environments designed specifically as teaching tools to introduce children to programming, virtual world programming exposes novice learners to a more representative computer science experience. Students write real code and get real syntax errors when their code is not correct. They also design objects in a three-dimensional world where knowledge of mathematical concepts such as 3-D global and local coordinate systems, and 3-D transformations are important to the creation of objects and behaviors. Programming artifacts from the camp and feedback from the camp participants provide a strong argument that middle school girls can handle the challenge of this approach and even be enthusiastic about it.

Computational Thinking with Girlguiding

“…There have been considerable efforts to encourage girls to become interested in computer science (for a review of intervention strategies, see (Miliszewska & Moore, 2010)). Companies, governments, third-sector organisations and university academics have designed a variety of interventions 1 to promote computer science careers (Hunter & Boersen, 2017) and teach introductory CS concepts to girls, often in informal educational settings such as online programmes, summer camps or after school clubs (Hulsey et al, 2014;Thomas et al, 2017). While such programmes are designed with the best of intentions, the lack of diversity in CS and related STEM disciplines is a highly complex problem and interventions are often ineffective (MacDonald, 2014a).…”

Coding Camp for Middle School Girls Helps Improve Awareness of Science/Engineering Careers and Pathways

“…There have been many attempts at teaching computer programming through hands-on activities such as programming computer games [7] [8], robotics using widely available kits such as LEGO Mindstorms [9], and using mobile app development [10]. It was found that girls are able to learn using graphical programming softwares [11] [12] as well as line-based programming environments [13].…”