OUR APPROACH

Code Girls United provides free, after school programs that promote career readiness and tools for self-sufficiency. We help rural and Native girls from low-income areas across Montana improve their social mobility by equipping them with the education and resources they need for future success in STEM related fields through our After School Coding & Business Program.

Through our program, young girls gain experience in computer science and coding fundamentals, marketing best practices, business development & entrepreneurship, and writing and public speaking skills which supports the development and proficiency in math, reading, and executive function learning. In addition to learning coding and practical business skills, the young girls who enter our program walk away with a new sense of self-confidence in their abilities and an empowerment to take control of their future.

 

We have 38 programs (which are a combination of in-person and hybrid learning opportunities) where students meet once a week after-school and at least once outside of our class. In the first half of the school year, new participants are taught the fundamentals of computer science and coding using MIT’s Appinventor, while returning participants are taught more in-depth lessons in computer science and learn advanced programming concepts. In the second half of the year, the girls are split into teams and tasked with identifying a community need, creating a business framework for their community service project, and developing an app as a solution to the community problem.

 

OUR FOCUS

Self Confidence

 

The young girls who enter our program walk away with a new sense of self-confidence in their abilities and an empowerment to take control of their future. Computer science and coding activities have been shown to help build up feelings of autonomy, confidence, creativity, and critical problem solving–in addition to skills building

Computer Science

 

Computer science and coding activities teach students the importance of logical progressions, loops, and if-then statements, which directly translates to the students’ ability to understand how their own actions can affect others in a positive or negative way.

Math

 

Girls in our program engage with mathematical concepts such as discrete math, logic, data structures, probability and statistics, and linear algebra. Through our hands-on use of MIT’s App Inventor our girls are exposed to topics such as: counting, summation, algebraic structures, predicate logic, first-order, higher-order, functional programming, algorithms, Artificial Intelligence, databases, and much more.

Literacy skills

 

Program participants create a business plan, develop and conduct surveys, research community problems with adult mentors, and create public presentations. These activities foster constructed and contextual knowledge, information creation as a process, research as inquiry, scholarship as conversation, and strategic exploration.