Girls’Day is a national initiative in which companies, factories and universities throughout Germany open their doors to female pupils of the fifth class and above who want to learn more about IT, trades, natural sciences and technology – careers in which women are, unfortunately, still underrepresented.
Girls’ Day is the largest career guidance project for schoolgirls worldwide. Since the campaign was launched in 2001, around 2 million girls have taken part.
In the last few years, there have been more than ten thousand offers from companies and organizations and now around one hundred thousand places throughout Germany, with an upward trend, that girls can explore.
inovex has participated in Girls’Day several times in the past and introduced girls between the ages of 12 and 18 to the various fascinating topics of the IT world for one day: among other things, the girls were allowed to get to know our robot “Pepper” and its functions better and to give it some work assignments – of course under the expert guidance of our mentors. We always pursue the goal of sustainability. For us, this means that all the objects used go home with the girls at the end of the Girls’ Day, where they can continue to discover them.
Projects from previous Girls'Days
Of course, we also talk a lot with the schoolgirls about the various apprenticeship occupations and courses of study related to information technology. However, to bring them closer to these, we use small workshops with a practical focus.
With the Flora-Bag, we create a workshop where girls get a feel for electronic components by connecting an everyday object to IT.
In the Zümi workshop, we control a programmable car. Our Zümi is equipped with sensors and a camera that can use artificial intelligence to recognize colors and also objects such as traffic signs, thereby influencing driving behavior.
The Timebox workshop includes an LED clock connected to a microcontroller. The girls learn simple programming concepts and how software interacts with hardware.
Girls’ Day Academy
The Girls’Day Academy is aimed at schoolgirls in grades 7 to 10 who are interested in technology and science. The Girls’Day Academy takes place weekly during the school year as a working group and can be held at any general education school. The schoolgirls learn about scientific and technical content through practical work at various companies and universities.
inovex is an educational partner of the Girls’ Academy and offers female students a practical insight into the world of IT. For this purpose we offer and develop programs from all directions:
- The Arduino workshop takes the girls into the world of electronic components, circuits and circuits (blog post on Arduino).
- With SonicPI, the girls create their own music pieces by being able to incorporate familiar elements of school music lessons, such as notes/scales, rests and measures, while programming (blogpost on SonicPI).
- In the “Virtual Worlds” workshop, students learn how to use their own smartphone and JavaScript to experience a roller coaster in 3D or build their own maze (blogpost on VR world experiences via Google CardBoards, blogpost on “Virtual Worlds”).
The girls’ interest in the content taught shows that our courses are creative and inspiring at the same time and that they are a lot of fun for the girls. And us too 😉
