IBM engineers will host a “Women in Technology” workshop for 26 seventh grade girls at Ann M. Dorner Middle School tomorrow morning. The girls will learn how to read and write code for computer programming and will try their hands at creating a web page for their first business.
The three-hour workshop is part of IBM’s continuing effort to interest more women in STEM – science, technology, engineering and math – careers. Students were selected to participate based on recommendations from their science teachers, according to Assistant Principal Erica Naughton.
In the web design workshop, students first learn the basics of HTML programming. Afterwards, they work together as young entrepreneurs to create a web page for a business such as a virtual garage sale, babysitting service or dog-walking service.
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“All of our workshops are meant to get the students’ feet wet in the broader field of computer science,” said Mary L. Murray, manager of IBM Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs. “But they are not just learning how to code; they are learning valuable life skills.”
For example, Murray said, they are learning how to problem solve by breaking complex problems into smaller, more manageable chunks; how to grow from failures and persevere; how work as part of a team; how to design for the user’s needs and how to express their ideas.
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“New technologies are having a deeper impact in our world and forever changing the way we live and interact with each other, yet very few women are actively participating,” Murray said. “We’re teaching girls to code to empower them with the tools, skills and creative confidence they need to contribute and lead in shaping the future because if you know how to create new technologies, you can change the world.”
The workshop is just one of many efforts by the Ossining Union Free School District to promote and nurture technology skills. Earlier this year, IBM engineers visited the middle school to conduct hands-on experiments and discuss careers in science. And recently, AMD students presented at Pace University’s STEM-D Conference on how they had learned to program computers using interactive games and animations.
The IBM engineers will be on campus from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.
