< Mission Statement />
We are looking to inspire an early interest in computer science among young female students within our community and make the field a viable long-term interest. Given how few women are enrolled at the computer science classes at our school, we want to promote an interest and enthusiasm for programming and computer science, raise awareness of potential future opportunities at the high school/college levels and of careers in computer science, provide beneficial educational resources, and foster a friendly environment conducive to growth and learning. This would be accomplished through specialized informational sessions/presentations in regular, scheduled workshops.
< Project Need />
In our community, there is little awareness of how problematic the lack of girls in CS is. It has not been addressed by our school administration or county in any way, so we are hoping to shine light on the issue.
< Civic
Engagement />
Our team is extremely involved in our community. Besides our current GirlsBuild project, we have done a variety of community service events. These range from refurbishing computers at Free I.T. Athens and helping senior citizens at a senior living facility with technology to providing tutoring for students at our school. Many of our members are also involved in Beta Club, National Honors Society, and Leo Club.
< Process />
Our team meets on Fridays every week or two weeks and discusses ideas and events for events. During these sessions, we talk and plan our Friday coding sessions.
< Project Planner />
< Survey Results />
At the last session, all girls were given a comprehensive survey to evaluate how they felt about NOHS GirlsBuild. Girls were asked to rate several factors from 1 (worst) to 5 (best). Here are the results averaged out:
1) How satisfied were you with NOHS GirlsBuild overall?
4.33
2) How likely would you be to do GirlsBuild next year (if you are not graduating) or recommend it to a friend?
4.47
3) Do you feel that you know more about computer science?
4.07
4) Are you more interested in learning about CS/taking CS classes in the future?
3.87
5) Did you find the website/social media/newsletter useful?
4.07
6) Did you feel comfortable and relaxed at all sessions?
4.73
7) How satisfied were you with the session content overall?
4.60
< Student Feedback />
"I really enjoyed learning new coding languages! This is my favorite club!"
"Everything !!!! :))"
"I liked looking at the inside of a computer. I also enjoyed trying to make a website. I liked the programming languages and I want to try to learn one in-depth."
"Thank you so much for the work you have done, I hope I will do Girls Build again next year. I have learned so much about programming and how much it is important to our society."
"START THIS CLUB EARLIER IN THE YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Fantastic job! I feel like I really learned more about computer science through this! I really enjoyed learning about the website codes the most) Thank you so much for hosting this club for us!! (The shirts look AMAZING!! Who ever designed them, fabulous job!!)"
< Evidence />
You can see some of the projects completed by our students at this link!
< Outcomes andReflection />
Overall, we are very satisfied with our project, and we felt that we did indeed have an impact on the girls of our community. Some of the 8th grade students we had expressed interest in computer science classes at high school and helping out with Girls Build next year. Many of our students have requested more resources so that they can continue to learn computer science at home and over the summer. As evidenced by survey results above, most girls are interested in doing Girls Build again next year and learning more about computer science.
All in all, we were able to meet our main 3 goals of
1) Teaching girls to code and fostering an enjoyment of the programming
2) Inspiring a long term interest in CS
3) Promoting a positive learning environment
For next year, we do have some changes and improvements we are hoping to make. First, we want to start earlier in the school year so that we can provide more sessions. Second, we think it would be a good idea to have students work on a big project, possibly in a group, so that they can apply the skills they learn and show them off at the end of the year. Lastly, we hope to expand in our services. We want to promote more and have more students participate; perhaps we may even open the program to another middle school in our county so their students can have this opportunity as well.