The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded Twin Cities PBS’s (TPT) National Productions Department a $1.2 million grant for a two-year media, educational outreach and research project, SciGirls Code: A National Connected Learning Model to Integrate Computing in STEM Learning with Middle School Girls.

This project is a collaborative effort between TPT, the National Girls Collaborative (NGCP), and the LT Media Lab. Dr. Cassandra Scharber, a Co-PI, will lead the research efforts for this project. Joan Freese, from TPT, is the PI; Rita Karl, from TPT, and Karen Peterson, from the National Girls Collaborative, are Co-PIs.

From the press release:"SciGirls Code will use principles of connected learning, a learner-focused approach that harnesses the advances and innovations of our connected age to serve learning, with 16-committed STEM (science, technology engineering & math) outreach partners to provide 160 girls and their 32 leaders with computational thinking and coding skills. The pilot program will develop and implement a nine-month curriculum centering on three tracks—e-textiles, robotics, and mobile geospatial technologies; role model training for female technology professionals; professional development for STEM educators; and a research component that investigates the ways in which computational learning experiences impact the development of computational thinking as well as interest and attitudes toward computer science."