YWCA Canberra Clubhouse is dedicated to facilitating learning opportunities for young people in the areas on science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM). On Thursday 5 April, the Clubhouse held an excursion for Clubhouse members to participate in a ‘Scratch for Beginners’ class, hosted by Cordelta and Coder dojo.  

With Scratch, you can program interactive stories, games, and animations and share creations with others in the online community. Scratch helps young people learn to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively, all skills that are essential for life in the 21st century. Scratch is a project of the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab, and is provided free of charge. 

Two female Clubhouse members, Ella and Zoe attended the class, along with the Clubhouse Coordinator, Annie, and the Youth Programs Team Leader, Ciára. It was very encouraging to see that all six attendees were female, as census data from 2006 and 2011 shows that only 16 per cent of STEM qualified people are female. These statistics demonstrate why the Clubhouse is so passionate about creating opportunities for young women to explore their passion for STEAM. 

The Scratch for Beginner’s Class walked through the basics of the program, allowing the participants freedom to create whatever they wanted first, and then the steps involved to make a game that involved a dinosaur jumping over approaching trees. Ella was able to show the teachers and other attendees some of the games she has already developed on Scratch, including a dodging game. Further to this, Zoe made a short Christmas themed animation, Ciára made a chasing game, and Annie also created a short animation. Through this process, attendees learnt how to change between characters, create different backgrounds, and build different coding blocks with different commands. The night ended with a pizza dinner, and our members left with a lot of knowledge about coding and made new like-minded friends!! 

Watch one of the dinosaur jump game.

Watch Zoe’s Christmas animation.

Cordelta has partnered with Coder Dojo to deliver more free lessons on a variety of programming topics. CoderDojo believes that an understanding of programming languages is increasingly important in the modern world. They create workshops for young people to learn skills such as building a website, creating an app or a game, and explore technology in an informal, creative, and social environment. Coredelta has consulted with the Clubhouse for the planning of future lessons, including website design. The Clubhouse is excited to be involved with these future projects.  

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