Coding class aims to bridge gender gap

James Jennings, News Editor
Posted 10/3/19

A group of elementary school girls are getting the chance to learn coding.The Wellman-Scofield Public Library began its Girls Who Code program last week.The group will meet once a month after school …

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Coding class aims to bridge gender gap

Posted

A group of elementary school girls are getting the chance to learn coding.

The Wellman-Scofield Public Library began its Girls Who Code program last week.

The group will meet once a month after school at the library.

“The program provides a good foundation for coding,” Megan Harris, the library’s youth services coordinator, said. “In the first portion of the class, we look at the textbook.

“We do a bit with that, working on the basics of language and getting our brains wrapped around what coding is. Then we build on that.”

The girls then pair up on computers and start applying what they’ve learned from the textbook lesson.

Harris said that the girls use a coding program called Scratch, developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

After each meeting, the girls are given projects to work on at home.

“It’s usually some sort of project on Scratch training them how to use what they’ve learned,” Harris said.