Registration is open for the Girls Who Code Chicago Summer Immersion Program. This selective, hands-on, seven-week summer program is growing once again. This year they will host programs in 17 cities around the country, including Chicago, Charlotte, Austin, Atlanta, Boston, Miami, LA, NYC, Seattle, Newark, DC, and around the San Francisco Bay Area. The Summer Immersion Program helps them grow their tech skills and build personal networks in the ... [ Read More ]
Computer Science Education Week
Thank you Capital One for sponsoring this post. It's Computer Science Education Week and I'm pleased to partner with Capital One to share some of their related efforts. Computer Science Education Week Designed to overlap with Admiral Grace Murray Hopper's December 9 birthday, CSEdWeek is an annual program dedicated to inspiring K-12 students to take interest in computer science. Give me a second to brag about this STEM girl: recently, on ... [ Read More ]
Eight Tips to Inspire Girls to Code
Earlier this year The Maker Mom's local companion site, STEM Kids Chicago, partnered with Tamasin Ford of Power Up Tech Academy, to host a mother-daughter coding program, Apps and Snacks. The coding workshop was designed to introduce girls and their mothers (or older supportive woman) to programming in a relaxed environment. To do a girls-only program is one thing, but my experience tells me that including moms and other female role models is ... [ Read More ]
Technovation at Lane Tech
You may recall that I posted about the Technovation Challenge last year. Technovation is a competition for girls in middle and high school that seeks to build and support the pipeline for girls in technology. The program is about more than technology, though. It also has a strong focus on business with an emphasis on entrepreneurship. Girls do not need to have programming experience to participate and there are no entry fees. Teams are judged ... [ Read More ]
DIY Gamer Kit Review
Lucas the Maker Kid is back. This time, he's sharing a DIY Gamer Kit review based on the product from the British Company, Technology Will Save Us. It's an item I was offered for review and sent along to him for the kids-eye view. DIY Gamer Kit Review Last year, I bought the DIY Gamer Kit by Technology Will Save Us from the Exploratorium store in San Francisco. My kit did not come pre-soldered, meaning I would have to solder all the parts ... [ Read More ]
Computer Science Education Week
And now we turn our attention away from holiday shopping (but not these great STEM giveaways!) and focus on acquiring knowledge instead of things. That said, I know Maker Mom readers are prone to acquire things that help their kids acquire knowledge. My point is, it's Computer Science Education Week! CS Ed Week runs from Dec. 7-13, 2015, but is best known as time for the Hour of Code. Whether you want to bring Hour of Code into your classroom, ... [ Read More ]
Eye on the Prize: A DIY Learn-to-Code Game with Post-it Products
Last week I mentioned that I had a STEM project in the works with the Post-it® Brand. Today I get to introduce it to you! Behold Eye on the Prize, an analog computer programming game. In addition to introducing kids to programming logic, it’s a good introduction to pair programming because you need two people to play. In pair programming, two programmers work together at a single computer. One writes the code while the other reviews each line ... [ Read More ]