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Beautiful Patterns: empowering young women through education in Computational Thinking

Our economy is rapidly shifting, and both educators and stakeholders increasingly recognize that computer science is a "new basic" skill necessary for economic opportunity and social mobility. Unfortunately, in Latin America, access to the education of computational thinking is scarce. For high school young women, access is virtually non-existent. Women in Mexico represent (i) only 17% of engineering students; (ii) 19% of the STEM workforce; and (iii) 10% of computer science students.

Research shows that diversity leads to better decision-making, more innovation, and improved outcomes. The work in progress project presented in this study is innovative because its women teaching other women. Hands-on activities, help students internalize the computational thinking concepts, and then they are walked through carefully scaffolded coding exercises with a mix of instruction and learning-by-doing. Over the weeklong program, all participants – high school students and college instructors from U.S and Mexico- build long-lasting bonds and friendships with each other.

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Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico