After months of brainstorming and planning, the idea for Girls Learning Code, a camp held during March Break to teach young women programming skills, became a reality last week.
The camp, for girls between ages 10 and 15, was a first for Ladies Learning Code, a Toronto non-profit that teaches women coding and other technology skills.
Mozilla lent its downtown Toronto office to the girls for the week to learn basic programming skills and using them on a group project. “The fact that Mozilla’s partnering on it is a direct outcome of Technicity,” said Mark Surman, its executive director, referring to an event last November jointly held by IT World Canada and the City of Toronto.
Girls learn code at March break camp – and have fun with it.
During his keynote there, Surman had told his audience that teaching kids the mechanics of technology was crucial for the future of innovation and the economy.
After that talk, many people asked Surman what the next steps could be, so he held a brainstorming session in partnership with Ladies Learning Code in January. One result from that event was Girls Learning Code.
“Kids are forming a relationship with the Internet that’s deeper than just playing games or fooling around with an iPad,” Surman said. “As kids are discovering what’s possible with the Internet, teaching them to code should be part of that.”
Girls Learning Code Projects
http://poof.hksr.us/uyrriwbw
http://htmlpad.org/teampython/
http://poof.hksr.us/erfcwjxg
http://poof.hksr.us/rfpjpndw
http://htmlpad.org/teamCFC/
http://poof.hksr.us/cmagfcbv
http://poof.hksr.us/snubkeqg
http://poof.hksr.us/wxmdcege
http://poof.hksr.us/epkmwjpe
http://poof.hksr.us/kaqzzgrw
http://poof.hksr.us/uyrriwbw