Teaching girls Python on the Raspberry Pi

PuPy meetup October 2014

Avilay Parekh (@avilay)

AgendaMy motivation and learnings from

teaching Gen-Z

2 students’ motivation and next steps

Women In TechLots of work is being done to make tech

workplaces more welcoming for women..

..BUT the problem is much more subtle

and much more insidious

“I cannot be a scientist because I am a girl, so I’ll be a princess when I grow up”

Women In TechRe-conditioning the entire society is hard

Start with the girls

Instill enough confidence that they can

shatter this bias

Raspberry PiSmall, cheap, no-frills,

fully functional computer

for $35

Our class project – an

mp3 player that plays

songs based on ambient

light.

“…society has bigger problems than what can be solved with your next app…we might as well just proceed back into the cave, because that’s where we’re headed.”

Raspberry Pi

Instagram and Snapchat are good apps..

..BUT not the stuff that dreams are made of

Humans on Mars By 2026

Polio Free World

Raspberry Pisoftware + technology = endless possibilities

Isn’t building apps easier and makes much

more money than other technology areas?

Schenzhen, China

Raspberry PiA well-rounded appreciation of technology

Technology is not hard. It is lots (lots and lots

and lots) of fun.

Relatable EnvironmentNot intruders in a guys’ worldUse of playful fonts, reference to MLP

Keep them movingThe robot game

To-fro from the projector to work stations

Instructor content on raspberrypi.org, code.org, etc.

High ExpectationsShow what the end-goal looks likeDemo’ed the final project at the beginning

Videos of successful technology graduates solving hard problems

It takes 10 years to achieve mastery

Instant gratification is rare

Myth:

Kids these days

lose interest very

fast if they don’t

get instant

gratification.

Reality:

My students stuck with it

for 6x3-hr sessions,

which were mostly

hands-on coding (and

painstaking debugging)

High Expectations

True for generations past.

True for us.

OMG! So true 4 gen z. Srsly.

Knowledge is its own reward