Coding Girls & Women: training from primary to secondary school to build skills and a future
Reducing the gender gap in STEM subjects means intervening early and continuously, accompanying girls and young women throughout their growth. This is the vision behind Coding Girls & Women, a programme promoted by the Fondazione Mondo Digitale ETS with the contribution of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies (Notice 2/2024), which integrates digital education, guidance and skills development for the future of work.
The project adopts the Education for Life model, which combines the learning of technical and scientific skills with the strengthening of self-esteem, critical thinking and the ability to imagine one's future without stereotypes. The training activities are designed as a progressive path, capable of adapting to different school levels and local contexts.
In the first cycle of education, Coding Girls & Women has already carried out numerous interventions in primary schools, particularly in Lombardy, with the aim of stimulating curiosity, creativity and confidence in one's own abilities. The courses have included coding workshops with Scratch, activities dedicated to the Sustainable Development Goals and workshops that integrate technology and active learning with the support of tools such as Lego Spike and BeeBot.
Soon, in Sicily, and thanks to the coordination of the University of Palermo, innovative methodologies will be tested, such as the Think Make Improve model applied to geometry with a 3D printer, approaches based on investigation and discovery for learning physics, and the use of augmented reality to make STEM subjects more accessible and engaging.
These experiences help children to build a positive first contact with scientific subjects, counteracting stereotypes and self-limitations at an early age.
The programme also continues in secondary school, where educational activities are designed to consolidate skills and guide future choices. The modules cover topics such as coding with Arduino, understanding how data travels and is used, chatbot development, the paradoxes of statistics and probability, and reflection on online risks. The methodologies adopted favour learning by doing, group work, peer learning and real-world problem solving, encouraging active participation and collaboration.
The activities will conclude with local hackathons, designed as opportunities to summarise and enhance the skills acquired, in which students will be able to tackle real-life challenges and engage with the academic and professional world. In this way, school education is directly linked to the skills required by the labour market, strengthening the link between schools, universities and the local area.
Through this continuous process, Coding Girls & Women contributes to building an educational chain that puts people at the centre, supporting the development of STEM skills as a lever for social inclusion, employability and active citizenship. An investment in the present that looks to the future, to make the new generations aware protagonists of innovation.
