[News!] Girl Scouts Add New STEM Badges

Girl Scouts of the USA introduced 23 new badges

In one of their biggest announcements in almost a decade, Girl Scouts has rolled out 23 badges all involving STEM related achievements. These have been implemented to encourage girls of all ages to explore the depths of engineering, technology, science, the environment, and math. The reveal of these badges marks a step in the right direction to balance the currently underrepresented women workforce in STEM subjects.

“We’ve seen girls being users of technology but not necessarily programmers, and robotics is a great way to learn how to code,” says the CEO of the Girl Scouts, Sylvia Acevedo. “It lets girls have a fun experience with friends while learning a skill.” Along with many other organizations, Girl Scouts knows that introducing STEM subjects are easiest with robotics. It provides a fun, rewarding way to engage young people in science, engineering, tech, and math.

Acevedo also mentions that one of the primary reasons for introducing these badges has to do with instilling confidence in girls to dive into STEM fields. “For a lot of girls, they need to have that hands-on experience so they feel confident.” she says.

The “What Robots Do” badge is the first robotic badge that girl scouts can complete. It focuses on showing the Daisies (younger girls) the importance of robots and engineering in helping solve everyday problems. This helps to inspire girls to pursue STEM fields at a very young age. Girl Scouts is doing a good job targeting the issue at hand because according to research, many girls “opt out” of STEM fields as early as second or third grade. These STEM badges allow for young Daisies to get involved in STEM and get confident going into these fields later on in their education.

With our lives increasingly relying on programs, softwares, engineering, and technology in general, Girl Scouts are latching on to this trend early to ensure that their young girls are able to be properly introduced to STEM fields. And all of this is possible with the creation of affordable, easy-to-use robots such as the Codey Rockey. Using the beginner-tailored code interface, mBlock5, these robots allow people of all ages to find their true potential in STEM fields while having fun in the process. #coding robot #programmable robot kits 

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