Girl's Day - walking through my coolest projects

The Girl’s Day is a special event in Germany aimed at encouraging more young women to pursue careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) - known as MINT (Mathematik, Informatik, Naturwissenschaft, Technik) in German. The initiative is supported by the German government, but its success relies on companies opening their doors to girls aged 12 to 18, providing them with insights into technical professions.

Over the past eight years, I have been actively involved as a mentor during Girl’s Day and have also served as an organizer for many years. Now, I’d like to share some of my experiences and highlight some of the most exciting projects I have been responsible for.

About organizing the day, the tasks and the vision behind

As a participant, Girl’s Day starts at 9 am and ends around 4 pm, which is a long day for school girls in a new environment with lots of new information. However, for the team behind the event, the work starts months before, with many important decisions to be made. This includes

• selecting which office sites will participate,
• determining the number of available mentors,
• and considering if the event can be staffed with only female role models.

Another crucial decision is how to structure the day and what the year’s topic should be. In the past, the event consisted of four workshops, each lasting around one to one and a half hours. While the girls were exposed to a variety of IT topics, it was a bit overwhelming and lacked hands-on activities. As a result, the girls were unable to demonstrate what they had learned or continue working on projects at home.

To address this, we introduced a hands-on workshop where the girls could create something tangible to take home - the Tote Bag. This new format, which involved a full-day workshop with a clear goal and the freedom to design their own bags, resulted in highly motivated participants and impressive outcomes.

However, creating these workshops from scratch required a significant amount of work and materials. It involved developing a beginner-friendly coding tutorial, providing prototypes for reference, and allowing time for the girls to design and work with hardware. Despite the effort, the results were well worth it. The tangible outcome made it easier for the girls to showcase and share their accomplishments, both at home and at school. Additionally, the hope is that the workshop will inspire some of the girls to pursue further studies in computer science or other technical subjects.

Overall, the effort put into organizing the event and creating impactful workshops is a worthwhile investment, as it has the potential to have a lasting impact on the participants.

The projects

Tote Bag (2019)

https://www.adafruit.com/product/659

Unsere Stoffbeutel sind auch heute, 5 Jahre später, noch eines meiner Lieblingsprojekte. Meine Prototyp ist immer noch im Einsatz und erinnert mich an den Tag. Also, was ist eigentlich der Tote Bag und was steckt dahinter?

Time Box (2023)

Time Box on GitHub
tjest

Recommendable Public Workshops and Beginner Projects

B·O·B·3 (2021, remote)

BOB3 is a small robot-shaped circuit board with RGB and IR LEDs, as well as touch switches. What sets BOB apart is the availability of a kit version, where larger components must be soldered on by the user. This unique feature allows for an introduction to electronics at the beginning of the workshop, providing a hands-on experience and a stronger connection to the self-soldered BOB.

In addition to the hardware platform, well-thought-out teaching concepts and materials are available as open educational resources (OER) under a Creative Commons license. Guided workshops in German and English are also offered for different age groups, based on coding blocks or Arduino-C++.

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, we were unable to conduct on-site soldering workshops as planned. However, BOB’s excellent materials made it perfect for adapting to a remote Girl’s Day event. It’s important to note that while the BOB itself is currently available for just under 30 euros, an additional programming adapter, also priced at around 30 euros, is required due to the lack of a USB interface on the board.

The intention behind our workshop designs is for the girls to take their BOB home after the Girls Day event and continue learning. However, the ongoing cost is unfornately not sustainable for us.

BBC Microbit (2022)

https://microbit.org/

Noch mitten in der Corona Zeit und entsprechend unberechenbar brauchten wir für den Girl’s Day eine Plattform, die ein ähnlich durchdachtes, flexibel einsetzbares Konzept mitbringt und ermöglicht. Sowohl ein Vorort Workshop als auch Remote sollte gut umsetbar sein. Das bedeutet die Hardware beziehungsweise Software muss für Laien einfach und ohne viele Vorraussetungen nutzbar sein. Zwar sind diese Punkt beim BOB gegeben, aber durch die hohen Kosten für Board und Programmer haben wir uns für einen Wechsel entschieden.

Als Alternative mit guter Verfügbarkeit, einem guten Lernkonzept mitvielfältigen, kurratierten Online-Materialien und Kursen für verschiedene Niveaus, sowie einem akzeptablen Preis haben wir uns für den micro:bit entschieden. Der micro:bit wurde als Teil der “Make It Digital” Kampagne der BBC für britische Schüler:innen als open source Hardware Lernplattform entwickelt. Beim micro:bit handelt es sich um ein ARM-basiertes, Microcontroller-Board mit Bluetooth, verschiedenen integrierten Sensoren, wie Temperatur, Accelerometer und Magnetometer, einer 5x5 LED Matrix sowie Buttons und einem Touch-Sensor. Damit handelt es sich um ein hochwertiges Microcontroller-Board, dass für vielfältige, kreative Projekte geeignet ist.

Die offizielle Website https://microbit.org/code/ bietet sowohl einen Code Blocks Editor basierend auf Scratch als auch Python und JavaScript Editoren für ältere und/oder erfahrenere lerner. Daneben gibt es noch Apps und jede Menge third party integrationen in andere Tools und Programmiersprachen. Die von Microsoft unterstützte Website enthält verschiedene Schritt-für-Schritt Kurse in allen Sprachen. Ein besonderes Highlight ist dabei der integrierte micro:bit Emulator, auf dem auch ohne Hardware direkt getestet werden kann. micro:bit bietet eine deutlich größere Anzahl an Tutorials und Ideen für verschiedenste Levels, allerdings sind die Kurse nicht so klar und logisch aufeinander aufgebaut wie es beim Bob der Fall ist. Hier ist etwas mehr Führung durch die Betreuer nötig. Ebenfalls zu erwähnen ist, dass zwar sehr viele Sprachen prinzipiell zur Verfügung stehen, aber die einzelnen Kurse nicht oder nur mangelhaft übersetzt sind und dadurch für jüngere Kinder teils noch schwierig.

Abschließend bleibt noch zu erwähnen, dass der micro:bit mit seinem Nordic Semiconductors Microcontroller auch eine wunderbare Plattform für das beliebte, Industrie-relevante Echtzeitbetriebssystem Zephyr ist, und daher auch für Studenten oder erfahrene Entwickler interessant.

Sonic Pi (several years)

Sonic Pi was initially created by Sam Aaron for the Raspberry Pi as an educational tool combining programming and music. This software enables users to compose music using concise Ruby scripts. Through this process, it introduces fundamental programming concepts such as variables, functions, iterations, loops, conditions, data structures, threads, and thread synchronization. These concepts are not only explained playfully but also made directly audible and experiential through music.

We experienced Sonic Pi serving as a great creative platform that seamlessly integrates music and programming education, making it an excellent and engaging tool for beginner workshops like Girls’ Day and similar initiatives. The videos of Sam Aaron performing live coding DJ sets, with the code visibly displayed, are particularly inspirational for participants, showcasing the endless creative possibilities this tool offers. Daher setzen wir Sonic Pi gerne immer wieder erfolgreich in verschiedenen Kontexten ein.

Zümi (several years)

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/robolink/driving-into-the-world-of-ai-zumi https://www.robolink.com/products/zumi

My learnings and key take-aways