Thursday, February 26, 2015

TechGyrls

TechGyrls is off to a great start with more than a dozen girls from middle and high schools throughout Pasadena participating.

Week one was all about getting to know each other and the basics of electronics. After a fun ice-breaker the girls were able to make mini-robots called bristle bots. These fun little robots made out of toothbrushes, motors, and watch batteries are easy to make, and helped them understand the concepts of a simple circuit while being creative.



In their second week, the participants got an introduction to SCRATCH. This basic introduction to coding hosted on MIT's website allows kids new to the concepts of coding to learn them in a simplified manner. The girls learned how to add "sprites" or characters to their projects, animate them, and have them do specific actions on command.








In their third week, the girls continued SCRATCH and had some hands on experience with propulsion and engineering. The girls were tasked with creating a car that moved on it's own using cardboard, straws, bottle caps, skewers, and a balloon for propulsion.  They also continued their SCRATCH training by taking the sprites that they animated the week before and creating a game with them.




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