It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. – Albert Einstein
Basics in App Inventor, Python and Beyond
Dec. 2018 - August 2023
This was the seventh school year of our Tech for Girls program as we offered free computer programming classes to middle school girls. In a series of ten-weekend classes, we introduced computer programming and app creation; these concepts were introduced using platforms such as the MIT App Inventor. The curriculum included the use of hands-on labs and online tutorials from MIT as learning materials. We then covered the basics of Python Programming and exposed students to Virtual Reality development with CoSpaces. In addition, we invited a female senior engineer from Oski Technology as our guest speaker to encourage more girls to pursue careers in STEM fields in the future. By the end of the program, students gained the basic skills necessary to make useful apps and grow their interests in app development.
Summer 2018 CoSpaces Workshop
July 2018
We have one week special Workshop on Virtual Reality development with CoSpaces through several exercises. Everyone uses a Google Cardboard to view her designed VR projects. Several girls are rising middle schoolers and it’s the first time they learned about VR. They did have fun to create and build their own 3D experiences in virtual reality world.
Introduction to App Inventor, Virtual Reality with Co-Spaces
Nov. 2017 - Mar. 2018
We are excited to offer two free Sunday afternoon programs for middle school girls. 1) Introductory class to MIT App Inventor for beginners. Same as last year, students learned basic programming concepts. In addition, they practiced to write programs to control Lego Mindstorm EV3 robots. 2) Virtual Reality with Co-Space and Blockly. CoSpaces is a Virtual Reality building space. Students learned programming in Blockly and encouraged to create their own CoSpaces projects. Girl’s creativity and imagination are AMAZING!!!
Field Trip to Portland State Univeristy and Google Portland
Apr. 28, 2017
We had an amazing field trip to Portland State University and Google Portland. At Portland State University, we visited ARC (Asynchronous Research Center) and a few other research labs and facilities. Professor Ivan Sutherland, a 1988 Turing Award winner for his pioneering and visionary contributions to computer graphics, shared with us fascinating stories about computing technology and woman pioneers. At Google Portland, researchers showed us a few awesome research projects. We are very thankful to all the professors, researchers and students who interacted with us. We are particularly thankful to Professor Fei Xie and Dr. Huiyu Liu for organizing the trip for us!
Introduction to App Inventor, Java and Beyond
Oct. 2016 - Mar. 2017
This program is offered to 20 middle school girls. The 11 2-hour weekend classes cover programming and app creation using App Inventor from MIT, basics of Java Programming, and programming with Raspberry Pi. This program is sponsored by a grant from NCWIT (National Center for Women & Information Technology) and co-sponsored by the Tech for Kids Club.