Coding for Kids
Girls Who “Make” Choose STEM
The growing shortage of women in computer science and engineering is a hot topic these days. Fortunately, the future looks bright for the next generation of girls, according to a new study by Intel. Their research finds that “girls that make, design and create things using technology may develop a stronger interest and greater skills in computer science and engineering.”
The popularity of “DIY” and the Maker Movement are creating a generation of girls and women who show just as much interest as boys in making, inventing, and solving problems through technology. According to Intel, 1 in 4 teens and tweens have already made things with technology and 7 in 10 are interested in learning to make things with electronics.
The key to getting more girls interested in STEM is to encourage and expose them to making. Whether it be through designing, building, coding, or the arts, making provides them with a pathway to learn and explore new ideas and technologies.
Girls Become Makers with Tynker
Tynker is a popular coding platform for girls because of its fun and easy approach, as well as the variety of projects and tools available to inspire their broad and creative interests. Girls have created millions of Tynker projects, such as greeting cards, music videos, comic cartoons, digital stories, quiz games, drawing tools, music makers, classic arcade games, platformers, geometric designs, Minecraft mods and skins, and science fair projects.
Let’s hear from a few who have enjoyed “making” with Tynker.
Carly – “I like Tynker because you can build whatever you want. You can make a video game or a dancing video. I always try to build new things so I can show my friends.”
Emma – “It’s really fun to see what you can do. With Tynker you can make a game and if there’s something you don’t like about it you can change it and make it the way you like.”
Kaela – “I like Tynker because you get to use your imagination to make something awesome. It’s like drawing and painting and writing all mixed into one.”
Quinn – “When I do Tynker it’s just fun. I don’t get stressed out, but I know I’m learning something.”
Haley – “Tynker is a lot faster and simpler. I once built a game in another language and it took me about 3 days. In Tynker it takes about 30 minutes to make a good game.”
Grace – “Unlike other coding languages, with Tynker you don’t have to memorize lines of difficult code. You just put the blocks together.”
Kami – “Tynker is easy and simple. It’s like a sentence, you just fill in the blocks you need to make it do what you want and it’s easy to understand.” See what Kami created.
On a Mission to Inspire More Makers
Girls and women use technology more than ever. It’s time for more of them to create it, too.
It’s easy to become a maker with code. How do we get more kids (and girls) started? By making it fun! We recently debuted Tynker’s newest course with kids, and they gave it an enthusiastic thumbs up. We also announced that kids can program drones, command robots, control home lighting systems, and even create mods and multiplayer games in Minecraft with Tynker, expanding the possibilities for kids to have fun creating with code.
Let’s inspire more young makers to create with code and get more girls and boys to choose STEM!
