The content used in a Dojo can influence the level of interest and participation of girls. It is important to make sure that the activities at your Dojo do not reinforce stereotypes, and are engaging for both boys and girls. There are a number of considerations to keep in mind when you are planning the content for your Dojo.
Gemma Cagney offers the following advice based on her experiences:
Find out your female Mentors’ skills and interests, and encourage them to use these when devising session content.
Spread responsibility for content across a team of people, so they can support and help one another; no one person should be irreplaceable, or crucial to the success of a session — that’s too much pressure!
Have a catch-up before each session with the entire team responsible for it. The catch-up is the time to go through concerns, raise issues, and share techniques which are working.
3.1 Activities
Practical and hands-on
Uncertainty about the subjects’ relevance is one of the top factors influencing girls’ interest in STEM subjects, according to a research project conducted by Microsoft in Europe. Girls are more likely to be interested in learning to code when they can visualise what they can do with it and how they can apply it in the real world. CoderDojo New York founder Rebecca stresses the importance of learning code as a skill which can be applied to many other areas, and says that it’s just one part of a bigger picture.
- A hands-on experience is more likely to interest girls. This does not necessarily mean physically hands-on, as in a hardware project, but rather refers to how the learning is presented. Take a ‘Learning by doing’ approach: encourage kids to jump right in and experiment with the code, letting them ‘break’ it and figure out mistakes together with the Mentors.
Easy to follow with visible results
A structured activity which has a clear purpose or goal is more likely to engage girls than one which focusses on coding for the sake of coding.
- Start small with short activities which inspire confidence, so that kids appreciate that coding is something they are able to do. Aim to use resources which guide the learner through making a specific project from start to finish, instead of resources which teach programming techniques concept by concept. Not only will this help learners visualise what they are setting out to achieve before they start, but by creating a project they will have something to show for their efforts at the end.
Creative
It is important to give girls the opportunity to be creative. Use resources which combine coding with creative topics such as music, storytelling, art, and film. Give them projects which they can adapt and put their own spin on.
Encourage girls to see technology as another medium for creating.
For hardware projects, don’t focus purely on the technology, but turn it into a more creative activity, for example by combining it with art, crafts, or fashion. Introduce things like robotics and wearables as new ways to get creative with familiar toys such as LEGO or dolls.
Emphasise the creative nature of coding itself: often there is no one ‘right’ way to do something, but many possible solutions to the same problem, so try choosing activities which demonstrate this. Perfect examples are resources from a number of Dojos which involve using different ways to make the same game in Scratch.
Gender-neutral
In the presence of a majority of boys, it can be easy to (unconsciously) lean towards projects themed around stereotypical ‘activities for boys’, such as sports or fighting games. At the opposite end of the scale, when planning activities with girls in mind, it might be tempting to overcompensate by incorporating typically ‘girly’ subjects, or by ‘pink-ifying’ resources. However, doing so perpetuates stereotypes and risks making girls feel pigeonholed.
Instead of using different content for boys and girls, aim to use resources that are gender-neutral for all Ninjas. Female uptake in STEM subjects has been found to be higher where the curriculum is perceived to be gender-neutral. By using Dojo content which is not biased towards one gender or another, you show that learning about technology is for everybody, and you also avoid stereotyping either boys or girls. As a result your Dojo will be a more inclusive space.
3.2 Technologies
How a technology is presented can have a bigger impact on its appeal than the technology itself. Below are a few suggestions of technologies which are suited for projects implementing the advice in the Activities section, and which Mentors have found to be popular among female Ninjas.
Scratch: Perfect for beginners with its friendly drag-and-drop, block-based interface which enables quick creation of animations and games, while also being suitable for more experienced coders. Scratch offers lots of possibilities for artistic creativity and storytelling.
Mobile: App Inventor is another block-based program which provides tangible results in the form of apps for Android devices. Making mobile apps is both practical and creative, and moreover very much applicable to life in our modern world.
Web design: Learning languages such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript gives kids the opportunity to be creative and make something tangible and familiar (i.e. web pages).
Hardware: Projects with Raspberry Pi, Arduino, and micro:bit are great practical activities which give instant visible results. It is important to consider the different ways in which a topic can be framed. The Silicon Docks Dojo has had success in getting girls excited about robotics by incorporating art and crafts into hardware projects.
Processing: A flexible open-source software sketchbook and a language for learning how to code within the context of the visual arts. Art-based projects have proven hugely popular with girls across numerous Dojos.
Minecraft Code Builder: This new immersive coding programme promotes computational thinking and creative coding which appeals to a wider youth audience and in particular girls²⁷.
Sonic Pi: An open-source programming environment designed to explore and teach programming concepts through the process of creating music and sounds.
3.3 Subject matters
The subject matter you use in an activity will very much depend on the children themselves. Find out where their interests lie and choose topics which are familiar to them. Take local interests into account; for example, farming might be a topic which children are interested in if they live on a farm, or have friends who do. Based on the research mentioned, on observations made at Dojos with a high proportion of girls, and on the topics of projects entered by girls into the Coolest Projects showcase, we have collected the following subject suggestions.
Social issues and helping people
Nature and the environment — this could be addressing real-world issues such as environmental protection, or it could be something as simple as creating games which have animal characters
Art, music, and dance
Narrative-style projects incorporating storytelling and adventure
3.4 Suggested resources
The CoderDojo resources platformcontains lots of useful free content for Dojo activities. Sushi Cards are a good example: these are collections of double-sided A4 concept cards designed to be practical, easily digestible, and gender-neutral. Additionally, there are many supplementary resources and projects available on the platform which have been created and shared by members of the CoderDojo community, who use them at their own Dojos.
Sushi Cards
Here are some good places to start on the CoderDojo resources platform. Visit our homepage to find more paths.
Examples of additional resources created by members of the CoderDojo community include: