For the ACM-W Celebration, we will do a Women Workshop on Educational Robotics. Our target group is women of any age. Educational Robotics target the development of Computational Thinking which is a necessary skill for careers in the fields of STEM, especially Computer Science.
Computational Thinking is a universal skill that everyone has the potential to learn and use. It represents a general model of problem-solving in which an algorithmic approach is taken to reasoning about complex systems using levels of abstraction. Computational Thinking is directly linked to the STEM fields and is becoming a must competency for Computer Science professionals and organizations. As computing becomes more important in all sectors of society, so does the preparation of a workforce able to apply core computing concepts, methods, technologies, and tools – referred to as Computational Thinking (NSF 2016 CPATH program; Computer Science for All initiative).
Women Workshop on Educational Robotics.
- Our workshops will be offered by women who work or study in the fields or Computing and Educational Robotics (i.e., women-tutors).
- We aim to help women of any age (e.g., moms with their daughters, teenage friends) to learn to work with various robotics toolkits to construct robots and program them to perform specific tasks.
- We aim to help women develop Computational Thinking skills.
- We aim to develop bonds among participating women/girls and women-tutors working or studying in the fields or Computing and Educational Robotics.
- We aim to help break the barrier against women’s participation in the fields of STEM and Computer Science, building women’s self-efficacy on Computational Thinking and Computing in general.
- The workshop is a continuation of our previous, successful celebration — Womenpower Symposium 2016 (WeMe2016)
- This event – see https://womenpowersymposium.wordpress.com/ has been organized an emphasis on hands-on activities, constructing and programming robots.
The workshops will be done in two full days (24th and 25th February), including introductory presentations on Educational Robotics and several hours of hands-on per day. A lunch break with be included each day, to enrich bonding and socializing amongst the participating women and the women-tutors.
