Computers were fun to me because I played games and was motivated to maximize the meager capabilities of my IBM XT, and wanted to cheat in games. So I learned all sorts of things there.
In computer class, there was no exploration, no fun. Oregon Trail was cool, but didn't capture the imagination.
I hated Math in school for many years, but my grandfather tutored me. Then I discovered puzzles and how to apply math to problems that had some relevance to me.
Look at the message, it is about how computers are fun and empowering. Even with this general message, they still market to girls by simply showing how women and girls are involved with coding. The target of the campaign is girls, but the message is universal that girls don't feel like outsiders and even boys can tag along.
This is just as important on the hardware side. As far back as I can remember, I had fun tearing apart electronics and computers. My junior high school had a computer club where we created Frankenstein machines out of discarded computers, and did whatever we had to to make them work.
You simply cannot have the same experience with a sealed, black box, computing device like an iPad, Surface, or Chromebook. I hesitate to even call them "computers" since they're so unlike the computers I built as a child.
Comments
You need to make it part of play. Make it fun.
Computers were fun to me because I played games and was motivated to maximize the meager capabilities of my IBM XT, and wanted to cheat in games. So I learned all sorts of things there.
In computer class, there was no exploration, no fun. Oregon Trail was cool, but didn't capture the imagination.
I hated Math in school for many years, but my grandfather tutored me. Then I discovered puzzles and how to apply math to problems that had some relevance to me.
This is exactly why Google' "Made with Code" campaign is so good: https://www.madewithcode.com/
Look at the message, it is about how computers are fun and empowering. Even with this general message, they still market to girls by simply showing how women and girls are involved with coding. The target of the campaign is girls, but the message is universal that girls don't feel like outsiders and even boys can tag along.
This is just as important on the hardware side. As far back as I can remember, I had fun tearing apart electronics and computers. My junior high school had a computer club where we created Frankenstein machines out of discarded computers, and did whatever we had to to make them work.
You simply cannot have the same experience with a sealed, black box, computing device like an iPad, Surface, or Chromebook. I hesitate to even call them "computers" since they're so unlike the computers I built as a child.