Barbie Will Be Used To Teach Kids To Code (engadget.com)

Mattel and Tynker are teaming up to launch seven new Barbie-themed coding lessons this coming summer. "The curriculum, aimed at teaching girls about computer programming, will also expose them to potential careers like becoming a veterinarian, astronaut, or robotics engineer," reports Engadget. "The larger goal is to introduce coding to 10 million kids by 2020." From the report: The Barbie programming curriculum has been designed for beginners grades K and up. It puts learners in career roles alongside Barbie as it introduces concepts gradually. It's not all just Barbie, of course, with a few different initiatives coming in 2018, including a Mattel code-a-thon and teacher outreach program as well as involvement in the Hour of Code in December.

"For close to 75 years, Mattel has taken a visionary approach to advancing play for kids around the world, most recently promoting computer programming and other STEM skills alongside iconic brands like Barbie, Hot Wheels and Monster High," said Tynker's Krishna Vedati in a statement. "We are very excited by this expanded partnership and the ambitious -- but achievable -- goal of teaching 10 million kids to learn to code by 2020 using Mattel brands."

Comments

Re: but coding is hard!

[Anonymous Coward]

Barbie gave up last time she tried to code: https://m.slashdot.org/story/210093

Re:but coding is hard!

[Minupla]

Interestingly there might be deep reasons why men are more prone to autism and aspergers

Actually - it turns out that diagnosis presents differently in girls/women and that many (high functioning, although that term has been dropped from the DSM-V, I still use it to differentiate the set of people who have enough social communication skills to 'pass') ASD women get misdiagnosed, or go undiagnosed.

There is some legitimate debate in the medical community if there is a biological basis for the difference in expression of the symptoms in autism in women, or if it comes form the fact that society, when faced with a non-socially-conforming female puts into place a social training regime that would make most intensive behavioral invention programs jealous, which works to lower the observable impact of the symptoms. As in most things, it's probably a bit of column A and a bit of column B.

Since we don't know what causes Autism, it's difficult to say how prevalent it is in women. It's worth noting that the prevalence of diagnosed cases in women has increased over the years though, which absent a causal factor to increase its expression in women suggests that we are still coming to grips with the different symptoms in women.

Some background reading for those interested:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com...
http://www.autism.org.uk/about...

Source: I'm the father of a newly diagnosed ASD daughter, and research is how I deal with life. Please, if you have a child, male or female, and you suspect ASD, get them tested. If it's significant enough that you suspect it, it's also impacting their lives.

My daughter was diagnosed years late because her pediatrician mistook the symptoms for shyness, and it wasn't until she was seen and tested by a specialist that we got the correct diagnosis.

Min